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Vacation Wally World – In October 2014 we started getting emails and calls from friends who heard Vacation was filming and they found casting calls on Facebook. So I responded to a casting call for Six Flags Over Georgia for additional calls. I’ve never seen the movie and thought it would be fun to actually be in the Holiday Movie even just sitting on a park bench maybe in the background.
A few days later I found a reply email that we had been accepted as extras. Of course it ended up in my spam folder and luckily the casting company called me. Casting call for 6am. Well it’s 6am so we wake up at 4am to make sure we get to Six Flags by 6am. And it was about 34 degrees with the highs in the mid 50’s.
Vacation Wally World
We arrived at Six Flags and loaded up a pile of paperwork and waited with about 400 other additions outside with heaters. Yes making movies as an extra is not very glamorous. After a quick makeup check and wardrobe check, we headed off to the set. Now the Vacation movie takes place in Summer, and it’s freezing cold, so we all have to hide our jackets as they call roll over and walk, sit, pretend talk, etc.
National Lampoons Vacation Movie Poster Print Griswold Wally World 🍿
Our first scene goes way back in the background as the Griswold Family in the movie races up on the Velociraptor. They ran into a sign that said a four hour wait from this point. We shot this 5-second scene for at least 40 minutes and it was really fun watching the process of filming it. I don’t know what the camera is focused on, so I’m not sure if you’ll see us in this shot in the background walking around a corner.
The next scene we shot was where the Griswolds walked into Walley’s World for the first time. They came to the park and their two boys ran forward excitedly while Ed Helms and Christina Applegate looked around and took a moment to kiss each other in the entrance.
Our roll in this scene is walking behind Ed Helms and Christina Applegate after they stop walking and start kissing. It’s amazing how many times we did this shot and how many times it was nearly impossible to walk from the left side of the entrance to the right with all the additions in the shot.
Our best moment for a moment in Vacation is when the Griswolds are waiting in the outside line at the two-hour point for the Velocirator ride. The camera starts to focus on the two hour wait sign then turns right on the Griswolds. Lisa was standing immediately behind and to the right of the two hour wait sign as this shot began.
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Filming in addition was a lot of fun and a great experience. Those are 12 hour days and something we will always remember.
We did return to Six Flags a few days later for lunch with some of the players. Lunch ended up being pushed around due to the day’s film schedule, but we were eventually asked to stay extras in the film’s closing scene. Again freezing weather and the view must be at night. It was below 40 degrees and I was in a Walley World T Shirt standing behind a split rail fence looking for my loved ones to be rescued from the wrecked Velocirator roller coaster.
There was a scene in Vacation that one of the directors asked us to follow. It’s called Four Corners. Maybe you know what this is but I don’t. So he explained that Ed Helms and Christina Applegate drove to Four Corners. This is the place where all four state borders meet. So they had a look and they were alone and decided, why not. Let’s have sex in all four states at the same time. So they did. Just at that moment the police showed up and all these couples ran out of the woods out of nowhere and Ed and Christina were the only couple the police caught. Police then fought over who had jurisdiction over the area as Christina’s feet were in one state and her butt in another.
So they wanted to have Lisa and me as one of 4-5 couples in this scene. I wanted to be in the movie Vacation for fun, but yeah, um, I don’t think I could do a nude scene. So we pass on this. Well and paid $1,000 each. Maybe next time I can be a cotton candy salesman in Walley World, it’ll be faster than me.
Real Life Griswold Family Builds A Truckster And Road Trips To Walt Disney World
I must say it was really cool to have this experience. I don’t want to be an extra in a movie but for one this is awesome and a must do. Just seeing how movies are made and being a part of the holiday franchise is amazing. Yes, the movie is going to be R, so it might be a little while before our kids get to see it, but it’s definitely something that makes for some interesting stories to tell in the years to come.
I want to thank everyone at S&K, Tammy Smith Casting, and especially Rob Foster (Director of Transportation) and Townson Wells (second assistant director ). Rob helped set things up with Truckster with the Directors and was also kind enough to show us and our kids around the set. Townson helped get us into the different Walley World scenes so we could actually be briefly seen in one of the shots that made it into the movie Vacation. Hey, you might think it’s easy to walk from point A to point B when they say “Background”, but let me tell you in a crowded amusement park scene, we spent 40 minutes doing it over and over again.
Yeah, it’s actually just something that would be a fun joke and I think if we could do it reasonably priced it would be great to have a Truckster. We had some friends at B&B Tire in Canton, GA who took on the task of building most of the Truckster. It quickly goes over budget but by then you are in for the long haul. About six months later we have Truckster. It’s expensive but the results look amazing! You can read about the entire Griswold Truckster build here.
It pays $8 per hour to be an extra, so it’s not something you do to fund your 401k. It’s really just for fun. Also if you are looking to get into the film business this might be a good way to meet the crew, directors and producers. But I don’t think it’s a foot in the door to be an actor. To become an actor I would audition for speaking roles and not as an extra. We also got to eat with the cast for lunch a few times, but we were in, so that was pretty cool.
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We were also asked to be in the 4 Corners scene. It pays $500 a day and is shot for two days. I don’t think anyone wanted to see me naked in the bushes so we declined. It will be interesting to see how this scene plays out in the film.
We mostly use it for Road Trips. For that. We probably went to Florida to Disney World, and we also spent 10 days driving across America from GA to CA driving the Colossus from the original Vacation movie. You can see the journey’s adventures here.
Fun facts: We started our journey at Six Flags Over GA (Walley World) in the 2015 film Vacation and ended our journey at Six Flags Magic Mountain (Walley World) in the original film. We didn’t expect Six Flags Over GA to become Walley World for the 2015 Holiday Movie at the time.
We will probably make several trips to Florida and back. It’s about 8 hours and if the trucker breaks down there’s civilization all around. I’m not sure I can handle another 10-day cross-country trip during the summer in 110-degree heat across the desert. The truck driver broke down three times on our cross country trip and with a 4 and 9 year old at the time you worry about those things. I have to say it was a trip I will never forget and even when the truck driver caught fire in Santa Rosa New Mexico our spirits were high and that was only part of the adventure. That’s what makes a Family vacation a thing
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