National Lampoon's Vacation is a 1983 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, and Anthony Michael Hall. The film features numerous others, such as comedic powerhouses John Candy and Imogene Coca, supermodel Christie Brinkley and future Ally McBeal regular Jane Krakowski, in smaller roles.

The screenplay was written by John Hughes, based on his short-story in National Lampoon magazine, "Vacation '58" (the screenplay changes the year to 1983). The original story is (reportedly) a fictionalized account of his own family's ill-fated trip to Disneyland (changed to "Wally World" for the film) when Hughes was a boy. The success of the movie helped launch his screenwriting career.

The film was a significant box office hit, earning over $61 million in the United States with an estimated budget of $15 million. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted National Lampoon's Vacation the 46th greatest comedy film of all time. It is widely considered to be the best film in National Lampoon's series of "Vacation" films, and continues to be a popular film and a staple on cable television channels. It also has a fresh rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. A "Wally World Water Park" opened in Canada several years after the release of the movie.

Bryce (Campbell), an aging Jewish banker who still fancies himself as a surfer, ends up trapped with his lap dancer girlfriend (Moor) in a shabby, Middle Eastern beach resort after an apocalyptic solar storm destroys the west, forcing the luckless Americans to come to terms with a medieval, year zero environment and a hostile culture that holds them responsible for the world's pain. Written by Anonymous

He wanted to see the world. She wanted him to see her.

The Griswold family, father Clark W., wife Ellen, daughter Audrey and son Rusty, set out in high spirit to spend their vacation driving cross-country from Chicago to a glorious climax in Walley World on the West Coast. The trip which Clark planned down to the minute, slowly loses its smoothness from the moment the first grain of sand gets in. A meeting with constantly-in-debt, simple-minded cousin Eddie results in the Griswold family giving cantankerous aunt Edna a lift to Phoenix. Of course, the Griswolds receive one strike of bad luck after another, and when they finally arrive at Walley World, they have to find out that the park is closed for maintenance. But Clark promised his beloved family the best vacation ever... Written by Julian Reischl

Chicago resident Clark Wilhelm Griswold Jr., his wife Ellen Griswold, his son Russell "Rusty" Griswold, and his daughter Audrey Griswold have prepared to go on vacation to Wally World, a Disney-like amusement park located in Los Angeles. Clark has planned this trip right down to every last single solitary detail, but on the way to Los Angeles, things get complicated. First, they get lost in East St. Louis, Illinois, where Clark asks a belligerent pimp for directions as the pimp's henchmen are secretly stealing the car's hubcaps, then they stop in Dodge City, Kansas to see what the old west was like. After this, they head to Coolidge, Kansas to spend a night with Ellen's cousin Catherine and Catherine's sloppy husband Eddie, and they pick up Ellen's annoying Aunt Edna and her vicious dog Dinky from Eddie and Catherine's house so they can take Edna and Dinky to Phoenix, Arizona, where Edna's son Normy lives. During the visit at Eddie's, Eddie's son Dale shows Rusty some porno magazines, and Eddie's daughter Vicki shows Audrey a shoebox full of pot. After leaving Eddie and Catherine's house, the Griswolds head to a picnic area, where they discover that Dinky has urinated on the picnic basket. Later, when the Griswolds get to South Fork, Colorado, they spend a night at a Kamp Komfort, a campsite that has smelly tents. When they leave on the next day, they accidentally drag Dinky to his death behind the car. When they reach a desert region of Arizona, the Griswolds narrowly skirt death after crashing through a roadblock sign and messing up the car, and after Clark treks through the desert to find a gas station, the car is repaired by a pair of greedy mechanics who want all of Clark's money for doing the repairs, which are very shoddy. When the Griswolds run out of money, Clark is forced to swipe some money from a hotel where he tried to get a check cashed, this being while Ellen, Rusty, and Audrey look at the Grand Canyon just outside the hotel. After the Griswolds leave this hotel, Edna dies in the car. That night, the Griswolds head into Phoenix, Arizona, and leave Edna's body at Normy's house. After a makeshift funeral service, they leave Normy's house. Clark starts going crazy because things haven't gone right on this vacation, and the way Clark scheduled it, they should have already been at Wally World. Will they ever get to Wally World, and will they get to enjoy it? Written by Todd Baldridge

Follows the Griswold family, Clark and Ellen along with their two children Rusty and Audrey, as they venture westward from the suburbs of Chicago to the Disneyland-like theme park, Walley World. Clark has planned the trip down the last detail, including seeing the world's largest ball of twine. However, Clark's pursuit of adventure is matched by his dimwitted bumbling, leading to a vacation his family will not soon forget. Written by Rick Gregory

Chicago native Clark Griswold has decided to take his wife ,Ellen, kids 14 year-old Rusty and 12 year-old Audrey to a Los Angles theme park called Walley World. But when Audrey takes up pot smoking and Rusty reads porno magazines, annoying Cousin Eddie sends spiteful Aunt Edna to join them on their trip, the Griswolds get stuck in the ghetto, Aunt Edna dies, Clark drives off the road, hillbillies take all their money, and Clark is shot at in a Dodge City bar, will their vacation be all it was cracked up to be? Written by DancingChicken2005