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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''James Lipton:''' In that picture.. Kelly's grandfather invites the entire gang to Hawaii for summer holiday.<br />
'''Dustin Diamond:''' Yes! The thing about that- <br />
'''James Lipton:''' [ interrupting ] They expect a marvelous time at the beach, sans Mr. Belding. They arrive.. and discover Mr. Bedling is there as well, don't they?<br />
'''Dustin Diamond:''' Yes! Yes, he is! [cracking up] They didn't think he was gonna be there, but he is! That's the twist part! [laughs]|'''''[[Saturday Night Live (TV)|Saturday Night Live]]''''' sketch "''Inside The Actor's Studio'' - [[Saved By the Bell]]: Hawaiian Style"}}
|'''''[[Saturday Night Live]]''''' sketch "''Inside The Actor's Studio'' - [[Saved by the Bell]]: Hawaiian Style"}}
 
In an ongoing series that normally takes place in a few fixed locations, the [['''Vacation Episode]]''' is a one-off episode where the characters leave their familiar grounds for a well-deserved rest. The vacation will invariably be set in a faraway and exotic location for maximum impact; given the higher costs of shooting on location, the episode will often be [[Story Arc|longer than usual]], to make best use of the budget. A [[Special Guest]] or three might also be included.
 
May overlap with other types of episodes depending on the destination; for instance, a [['''Vacation Episode]]''' to Hawaii will inevitably also be a [[Beach Episode]]. It may also turn out to be a [[Busman's Holiday]].
 
Also see [[Tourist Trap]], [[Busman's Holiday]], [[Christmas Episode]], [[Beach Episode]], [[Hot Springs Episode]], [[Road Trip Episode]], and the [[Episodes]] index. Parent trope to [[Aloha Hawaii]] and [[Viva Las Vegas]].
 
----
{{examples|Examples: }}▼
 
▲{{examples|Examples: }}
== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==
* Occurs in lots of anime, often as a [[Beach Episode]]:
** ''[[Love Hina]]'' spent most of its time in the Hinata Inn, but had a [[Beach Episode]] and a few other trips.
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** ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' mostly takes place on school grounds, except for the occasional [[Beach Episode]].
 
== [[Live -Action TV]] ==▼
 
== Fanfic ==
* Book 2 of ''[[Sterate Baboogeddon]]''.
 
 
▲== Live Action TV ==
* After the first few seasons, ''[[Friends]]'' began a pattern of making every season finale a two-parter vacation episode.
** Although with the exception of the London episode(s), most of these were filled with [[California Doubling]].
* Season 4 of ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'' started with a three-part family trip to Hawaii, where the kids toured the local beaches, got involved with a cursed tiki, and ran into Don Ho and Vincent Price.
** The Season 3 premiere was a three-part trip to the Grand Canyon, with gold mining, ghost towns, and Jim Backus as a [[Prospector|crazed prospector]].
*** In the final season, one episode almost entirely took place at an amusement park in Ohio.
* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' had an entire ''vacation [[Story Arc]]'' that ate most of the fourth season and leaked into the fifth. It pretty much inflated every aspect of this trope to fit -- especiallyfit—especially, since it was a trip to Hollywood, the [[Special Guest]] part.
** Also later in the fifth season, the tour through Europe.
* ''[[Family Ties]]'' has the TV movie ''Family Ties Vacation'' where the Keatons went to England.<ref>(the movie has not, apparently, been shown in the UK due to [[Channel Four4]] not running the entire series)</ref>.
* Subverted on ''[[Malcolm in Thethe Middle]]'': an entire episode was built around the family stuck in a traffic jam on their way to the vacation.
* ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'' had a two or three part season finale in some sort of beach resort.
* ''[[Married... Withwith Children]]'' had three episodes (actually, a three-part episode) in England (ironically, the series wasn't running on British TV at the time!).
** And the two-parter in picturesque Dumpwater FL.
* ''[[Blossom]]'' kicked off a season with a five-episode storyline (basically a TV movie, which was how it was originally shown) in Paris.
* [[The Movie|The Movies]]s of certian seventies [[Britcom|Brit Coms]], for instance ''[[Are You Being Served? (TV)|Are You Being Served]]'' (Spain), ''Holiday [[On the Buses]]'' (holiday camp) and ''[[Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads]]'' (caravanning). A more recent example is the ''[[Harry Enfield and Chums]]'' movie ''Kevin And Perry Go Large'' (Ibiza).
** This was parodied/invoked in ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'s Apocalypse'', when Pauline suggests that a possible plot for the ''League of Gentlemen'' movie might be that all the characters go on holiday together.
** In the 80s and 90s, it was more common as the [[Christmas Episode]], such as ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]: Miami Twice'', or ''[[One Foot in Thethe Grave|One Foot In The Algarve]]''. These were sometimes criticized for having nothing to do with Christmas.
* The [[Teen Nick]] shows tend to have one every year.
* [[Hannah Montana]] also has one every year.
* ''[[Full House]]'' had episodes of the family going to Hawaii and Walt Disney World.
* ''[[Modern Family]]'' also had a Hawaii episode.
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* ''[[Sesame Street]]'' had a series of episodes where the characters went to Puerto Rico to visit Maria's family. Also, there were one-hour specials like ''Big Bird in China'' and ''Big Bird in Japan''.
* ''[[Roseanne]]'' had an episode where Dan and Roseanne go to Vegas, featuring nonstop gambling and a visit with Wayne Newton (and a Wayne Newton impersonator). Another episode featured a trip to Walt Disney World.
* ''[[The Jeffersons]]'' went to Hawaii in a four-part episode arc.
* The series finale of ''[[Saved Byby the Bell]]'' has Zack and Kelly married in Las Vegas.
** An earlier episode has Kelly's grandpa inviting everyone to his hotel in Hawaii for summer vacation.
* ''[[Jon and Kate Plus Eight]]'' went to Hawaii to renew their wedding vows.
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* The Spanish dramedy ''[[Aqui No Hay Quien Viva]]'' had one that doubles as both a [[Beach Episode]] and a [[Pool Episode]].
* In season 3 of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'', Topanga wins a trip to Disney World. Cory follows her to make up with her.
* ''[[Step Byby Step]]'' had two of these: one in Hawaii and one at Disney World.
* ''[[The Monkees]]'' episode "The Monkees in Paris" where the guys walk off the set tired of the same old scripts and go to Paris.
* ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' season four sees Blair and Serena enjoy their summer vacation in Paris.
* Subverted in a first season episode of ''[[Criminal Minds]]''. It starts with the team getting time off and Elle and Morgan going to Jamaica (?). They promptly discover a dead body and the rest of the team is called in.
* ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]'' had two, one where the Taylor family goes to a lake house, and one where Tim, Jill, Al, Heidi and Wilson go on a rafting trip for Tim's birthday.
* ''[[The Late Late Show]]'' spent a week in Paris, with [[Craig Ferguson]] and [[Kristen Bell]] visiting popular tourist destinations and eating dinner with [[Jean Reno]].
* ''[[Late Show Withwith David Letterman]]'' spent a week in London (which also marked the only time the series has seen the light of British terrestrial television - [[The BBC|BBC2]] aired those episodes). Johnny Carson and Bill Maher also had UK jaunts.
* Steve and the kids win a trip to Universal Studios Orlando on ''[[The Steve Harvey Show]]''. Regina tags along because she's always wanted to ride The Hulk rollercoaster, and Cedric uses the trip to give Lovita a honeymoon.
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Episode 3 of ''[[Llamas Withwith Hats]]'': Carl enjoys himself rather more than Paul does...▼
* [[Word of God]] has said that after the first one, the commercial specials are done whenever [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] is in need of a break from proper reviewing.▼
 
== Web[[Western OriginalAnimation]] ==
* The ''[[Ni Hao, Kai Lan (Animation)|Ni Hao Kai -Lan]]'' episode, "Ni Hao's Trip to China" is a textbook example. It's a double-length episode where everyone visits Kai-lan's great-aunt in China, tries various new things, and meet a newborn baby panda. ▼
▲* Episode 3 of ''[[Llamas With Hats]]'': Carl enjoys himself rather more than Paul does...
* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures How I Spent My Vacation (Animation)|Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation]]'', where all the ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures (Animation)|Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' characters leave Acme Looniversity for various vacation-related hijinx.▼
▲* [[Word of God]] has said that after the first one, the commercial specials are done whenever [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] is in need of a break from proper reviewing.
* Before [[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]] had gone everywhere on the planet they had a Vacation episode where they went to the beach for a week, using Flanders's beach house.[httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20170726105235/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_4_Ft._2\]▼
 
 
== Western Animation ==
▲* The ''[[Ni Hao Kai Lan (Animation)|Ni Hao Kai Lan]]'' episode, "Ni Hao's Trip to China" is a textbook example. It's a double-length episode where everyone visits Kai-lan's great-aunt in China, tries various new things, and meet a newborn baby panda.
▲* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures How I Spent My Vacation (Animation)|Tiny Toon Adventures How I Spent My Vacation]]'', where all the ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures (Animation)|Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' characters leave Acme Looniversity for various vacation-related hijinx.
▲* Before [[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]] had gone everywhere on the planet they had a Vacation episode where they went to the beach for a week, using Flanders's beach house.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_of_4_Ft._2\]
** Early in the first season, they rented an RV and went camping. It crashed down a cliff at the end of act one, leaving the Simpsons stranded in the woods.
* An episode of ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (Animation)|Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' [[Deconstruction|deconstructs]] the "packing up and getting to the airport" part of a vacation, [[Subverted Trope|much to the dismay of those]] who were expecting "Foster's Goes To Europe" to, well, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|go to Europe]].
** Other CN subversions include ''[[Chowder (Animation)|Chowder]]'' 's "The Vacation" (which occupies its time with Chowder getting stuck in Mung Daal Catering's bathroom and the others trying to get him out), and that ep of ''[[Cow and Chicken (Animation)|Cow and Chicken]]'' that spends its entire runtime on a plane... {{spoiler|that turns out hasn't even taken off yet.}}
* One "Thunder Lizards" segment on ''[[Eek! the Cat (Animation)|Eek theThe Cat]]'' was about Bill and Scooter actually inventing the concept of a vacation.
* The ''[[Rugrats (Animation)|Rugrats]]'' did a couple vacation episodes, as well as [[Sequel Goes Foreign|a vacation]] ''[[Rugrats in Paris|movie]]''.
* ''[[American Dragon Jake Long (Animation)|American Dragon: Jake Long]]'': Jake Long will always have some magical emergency even during what would otherwise be vacation episodes.
** "The Long Weekend": His Dad took him into a camping trip, where Jake ended up having to save a village of sprites.
** "Feeding Frenzy": The Longs were visiting relatives in Florida and a gang of magical sharks caused mayhem.
** "The Hong Kong Longs": The Longs went to Hong Kong for a two-week vacation. It was also the time for all dragons on Earth to meet at Victoria Peak and the Dark Dragon captured Lao Shi to force Jake to slip a mind-controlling potion to control all dragons. This was also the only episode of the series to have no scene in America.
* [[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]] did a whole series of vacation episodes recently.
* ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'' had a song called "I'm Mad!" where they go on a car trip.
* The children's channel [[Noggin]] had a song called "Are We There Yet?", about how exciting a vacation can be.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]
[[Category:EpisodesTropes on a Trip]]
[[Category:VacationUnusual Situation Episode]]
[[Category:Vacation Tropes]]
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