Errores

Ellen's hairstyle changes quite dramatically towards the end of the film (at around the time that Aunt Edna is dropped off at Flagstaff), from wavy to a poodle perm. Result of last minute reshoots.

When Clark turns in his old car at the dealer, his old car going into the cruncher is different than the one deposited back on the lot. Going in, it has stock hubcaps and black tires, and the smashed one has mag rim and a white-wall tire in front.

Through the course of the film, Rusty is about the same height as Ellen. But during the Walley World scenes, he is taller than her. This is because these scenes were shot after principal photography.

In the saloon in Dodge City as the Sheriff is walking up to the Griswolds inside the bar the waitress in the pink dress walks past the Sheriff from behind and stops at a table, and the girl in the dark red dress, coming down the stairs, walks past the sheriff in the other direction. In the close up shot of the Sheriff, both girls are walking into the shot from the same directions again.

When Clark hooks the dog's leash onto the driver-side back bumper, it actually comes unhooked when the dog dashes at Clark and rests on top of the bumper. In the next scenes, the dog is dragged to his death because of Clark leaving the leash hooked around the bumper.

When the Griswolds are lost in St. Louis, the wide overhead shot clearly shows the Family Truckster exiting onto Interstate 70 West. This is the correct route for their trip, and they wouldn't have been lost if they took it.

When purchasing a car in Illinois, either your license plates are transferred from your old car or you are issued a License Applied For sticker to be posted in the window of your car. The Griswolds' old car is driven off and crushed without removing the plates, and there is no sticker on the new car. They would be stopped and ticketed by the first cop that spotted them.

After Ellen announces that Aunt Edna is dead, Clark pulls into a ditch and Audrey jumps out of the car yelling "a dead person breathed on me!" Dead people do not breathe.

When Clark and Ellen are doing the dishes, you can see Ellen just brush the leftover food into the sink and then hand the plate to Clark. She does not wash the dish. Clark is in front of an open dishwasher but he just wipes the dirty dishes with a towel and puts them in the cabinet.

This type of subtle joke is a hallmark of Chevy Chase, and was done intentionally as a joke.

In Kansas when Rusty is asking his cousin Dale whether he had "Pac Man," Dale says "no," but in the very next scene in Dale's room, a portable Pac Man game can be clearly seen on the bed behind Rusty.

This is Rusty's Pac Man game. He brought it along on the trip and it can be seen in the Truckster many times throughout the film. So Dale saying he does not have a Pac Man game is correct.

During the St. Louis part, they show the Griswolds crossing the bridge into Missouri and then getting lost in what they title "East St. Louis." East St. Louis is actually in Illinois, so they would have encountered it before crossing the bridge.

The title is not referring to the city of East St. Louis, but the eastern part of the actual city of St. Louis.

When Clark first stops for gas and rips the license plate cover off trying to find the gas tank, this is at the Little America hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona, where some other scenes were filmed in the movie. This is a truck stop/hotel, and the garage in the background is very distinctive, as are the ponderosa pines across the street. This is somehow set between Chicago and St Louis, while Flagstaff is in the middle of the world's largest ponderosa pine forest.

As is common in movies, certain locations are utilized to stand in for other areas; these scenes are not meant to be depicted as taking place in the actual locations they were shot at.

Clark comments on "real tomato ketchup," not "homemade," so seeing a bottle of commercial ketchup in Eddie's kitchen is OK.

In the open matte version of the film, when Ellen is in the shower, she can be seen wearing slightly pulled down underwear or a bathing suit bottom.

Towards the end of the film, when the Griswolds reach Walley World, Clark tells Laskey that they have an appointment. When the shot switches to Laskey it's clear that he's "reading" off a blank legal note pad.

When Clark falls onto the skeleton when wandering in the desert, a jaw spring can be seen in the back of the skull. This is used in the lab to keep the jaw shut, but obviously wouldn't be on a skull in the middle of nowhere.

As the Family Truckster barrels through an intersection with everyone inside supposedly asleep, you can see the driver sitting up straight.

When the Griswolds fall asleep in the car, Clark awakes to see the predicament they're in. When his car is apparently in DRIVE, the car goes in REVERSE without stopping and/or changing gears.

It makes no sense that Ellen would put her credit cards in a travel bag rather than her purse.

When Clark and Ellen go skinny-dipping in the motel swimming pool, we hear her laughing and shouting when her head is underwater.

Right after Eddie tells Clark that Daisy Mabel was born without a tongue, we can hear Clark say, "Oh," and then laugh. However, Clark does not appear to be laughing, or even smiling.

Camera and operator visible in one of the rides at Walley World.

After Clark opens up the door just after the airbag deploys, you can see filming equipment in the reflection of the station wagon's metal side mirror.

Clark and the Motorcycle Cop are talking in close-up at the rear of the vehicle. A movie light is clearly visible reflecting off the cop's helmet as the sun is shining in a different place on the helmet.

On the pirate ship/swing, crewman with white shoes and jeans visible on the right side on the ground, maybe ride operator.

When Ellen sniffs the sandwiches and realizes the dog had peed on them, the lights used for the scene are reflected in her sunglasses.

Tall mountains can be barely seen in the distance when the Griswolds arrive at and drive away from Cousin Eddie and Catherine's farm. There are no tall mountains in Kansas.

Mountains and palm trees near Chicago, in the opening scene when they are pulling into the car lot.

As the Griswolds are driving through Chicago, operating oil derricks can be seen in the background outside the vehicle's passenger windows.

During the opening credits postcard montage, one of the cards shows a billboard advertising "Gatorland Zoo, 6 miles away," and the post card heading mentions the billboard was photographed at St. Augustine, Florida. Gatorland Zoo is located in Kissimmee, Florida, which is over 120 miles away from St. Augustine. A few postcards later, another card appears from Gatorland Zoo, depicting the "alligator mouth" entrance, and that card is correctly headlined as Kissimmee, Florida.

The postcard at the beginning of the film that shows the Tower of Pizza was in Green Brook, NJ, not New York as it reads in the film.

Immediately before the Family Truckster crashes through the "road closed" in the desert, Edna can be seen gasping before Clark and Rusty, possibly a cue mistake. Following which, Ellen clearly can be seen laughing as she leans over for cover.

Clark Griswold is somehow able to drive carefully while asleep with the rest of his family. In reality, a driver asleep behind the wheel would end up in a ditch or crash into other obstacles, possibly killing himself or everyone in the car.