Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation (originally titled How I Spent My Summer Vacation, also referred to as Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation or How I Spent My Vacation), is a direct-to-video animated film starring the regular characters from Tiny Toon Adventures. The film follows them during their summer vacation from school.
Steven Spielberg was the executive producer of the film, written by Paul Dini, Nicholas Hollander, Tom Ruegger, and Sherri Stoner. Tokyo Movie Shinsha animated the film. As the very first animated film to be released directly to video in the United States, it was released on the VHS and Laserdisc formats, and was released on DVD on August 14, 2012. The film was later aired on television a a four-part episode of the series.
Synopsis[]
Part 1[]
The film opens at Acme Looniversity on the last day of school, and the students are anxiously awaiting for the end of the day under the watching eyes of Bugs Bunny. The kids start singing a song about the long time they're waiting for the clock to hit three o'clock, and explain the things they intend to do this coming summer. Finally, after their song is done, Gogo breaks out of the clock to announce that school's out. The students rush out of the school and sing the movie's opening theme (sung to the tune of the show's theme song).
Later that day, Plucky is taking a walk with Hamton, inquiring him as to what he wants to do with him first, the choices being going to the beach, camping, or just watching TV. Hamton instead says that he's going out of town this summer, because he and his folks are going to the Happy World Land amusement park. Plucky, upon hearing this, wants to go to Happy World Land too and clings on to Hamton's leg, but Hamton detaches him and the Pig family leaves him behind. Plucky tries to get the Pig family to stop by disguising himself as a road constructionist and holds up some signs telling them to stop, but the Pigs don't notice him because they're videotaping their car hitting 100,000 miles and run over him in the process. (Then they drive over him two more times because Wade left the camera's lens cap on the first time.) Plucky then manages to get them to stop by making his own leg look like that of a pretty woman's. He pretends to say he'll be fine with not coming along on the trip, which moves Hamton enough to ask his parents if Plucky can come along. Wade agrees to letting Plucky come along, but the duck soon finds he's going to regret this when he finds he has to sit with Hamton's Uncle Stinky.
Elsewhere in Acme Acres, Babs, doing an impression of Robin Leach, gets out everything she needs for sunbathing, including a backdrop of the French Riviera. But while she's relaxing, Buster approaches her with his Acme Super Squirt gun. He brings down an Arctic backdrop and runs up to a refrigerator, where he pulls out a bucket of water and a tray of ice cubes (among other things). After mixing the ice into the water bucket and then filling it into his squirt gun, he returns to Babs and squirts her in the face. The alarmed Babs dashes into her burrow and hides in her mom's arms. When Buster comes up to her, Babs's mom scolds him for "squirting Babs inside the burrow" and throws them back outside, so Buster squirts her again. Babs furiously dashes back inside and gets out her own squirt gun, which she then demonstrates on the cameraman. However, she has no luck trying to squirt Buster herself. In the course of their chase, they pass by Elmyra's backyard, where Elmyra is trying to give Furball swimming lessons. Babs tries to steal Elmyra's wading pool to use against Buster, but Elmyra calls her out on it and demands it be given back (during which Furball considers cutting his tail off so he can escape), so Babs dumps the pool on Elmyra, allowing Furball to escape.
Babs heads to Acme Acres' dam and cranks it open, allowing the water contained to spill out all over the city. Observing the flood she's causing, Babs realizes she may have gone too far. Buster then zips by on a jetski and zips off to the Hawaiian islands, where he tosses a barrel of dynamite into a volcano there, causing it to erupt and create a massive wave ("I do this water thing to Babsy throughout the entire video"). After Babs gets caught in the flood created by this wave, Buster lands on a table floating near her and asks for her surrender, which she reluctantly agrees to. She climbs onto the table with him and finds that there's something stuck on her foot - Byron, Elmyra's basset hound. The current then takes their rafting table into a nearby river, taking the three of them out of Acme Acres.
Over at the beach, Shirley is running a fortune telling booth as her summer job and sees Buster and Babs' escapade on her crystal ball. Fowlmouth comes up to her, asking if she wants to go see a movie with him, but she rejects his offer and tosses him to some volleyball players. Fifi comes up to Shirley and tells her that she's looking to meet her idol, a movie star skunk named Johnny Pew, and wants him to autograph her photo of him. As it turns out, Johnny is heading for the Acme Resort Hotel, so Fifi heads off there. Fowlmouth makes another attempt to ask Shirley to go to the movies with him, and this time she turns him into a Frisbee. Dizzy Devil comes up to Shirley, bawling that it's shedding season and if he spins, he'll lose all his fur. Shirley tells him to not let that fear get in his way and spin anyway; Dizzy goes ahead and spins, and sure enough, he loses all his fur. As Shirley laughs at his expense, Dizzy dresses himself with a box and walks around wearing it, which Mary Melody, Furball, Calamity Coyote, and Vinnie the Deer mistake for a new fashion trend. Fowlmouth asks Shirley for a movie date one more time, and she finally agrees so that he'll stop his begging.
Meanwhile, the Pigs are currently driving through the desert, singing "100 Bottles of Non-Alcoholic Beverage on the Wall", much to Plucky's displeasure. (When he asks why they're not singing "beer", Winnie replies "We don't drink in our family!") Plucky complains about the heat in the car and asks for some air-conditioning, but Wade won't turn it on because it "wastes gas", and Winnie won't let him roll down the windows because "people will think we can't afford air conditioning." Additionally, Wade cannot seem to stop humming "Pop Goes to the Weasel", to the point that when Plucky asks he hum something else like "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", he ends up going back to "Pop Goes the Weasel". To make matters worse, Plucky finds himself getting a shower from Uncle Stinky's sweat. The Pigs then start playing a game of "Spot the Car" to pass the time, but as Plucky finds out, their idea of this game is to yell "There's a car!" at the sight of every car that passes by them (but not trucks). Then they see they're coming to a tunnel and start holding their breaths and making a wish. Plucky tries to do the same, wishing he was at Happy World Land already, but he is unable to hold his breath as long as the Pigs can. When they finally get out of the tunnel, Hamton and his parents exhale so big that their car explodes. One car-repairing scene-switch later, Plucky finds that Uncle Stinky is still holding his breath and tells him the game is over now, but Stinky's exhale is so foul that Plucky loses consciousness (and his colors, which Hamton repaints on him).
Part 2[]
Buster, Babs, and Byron are still drifting down the river. Babs isn't enjoying the experience, but Buster tells her to relax. During this, they pass under a rickety bridge where they see a possum kid playing a banjo. Babs thinks he looks scary, but Buster believes he's trying to communicate and waves to him, and gets Babs to do the same. She then begins to agree with Buster, bringing up the "romantic charm" of the possum kid's music, and starts flirting with Buster, but her moment is cut short when Buster tries to tell her that they're about to go over a waterfall. As they go over the fall, Superman catches them, but they tell him to get out of their movie, so he drops them back down. Buster and Byron manage to grab onto a tree branch, while Babs lands in the water below, where she encounters parodies of characters from The Little Mermaid ("oops, wrong cartoon!"). "Ariel" boots Babs back up to the surface, where Buster has also just landed, having used Byron as a parachute. Buster pumps water out of his waterlogged girlfriend and then splashes her with it, but they are then suddenly frightened by the presence of possums in the forest, among them the possum kid from earlier, whose name is Banjo. Banjo's kin takes the rabbits hostage and intend to cook them. Buster engages in a "dueling banjos" act with Banjo while the other possum family members start cooking Babs. She manages to get out of the pot and runs for her life, eventually trapping the possums in a log, tying their tails together, and kicking the log into the river. Her skin safe, Babs grabs Buster and Byron and leaves.
Over at the beach, Elmyra, having recaptured Furball, is applying suntan lotion to him, but he manages to escape her grasp again. Elsewhere, Fifi arrives at the hotel where Johnny is staying and walks in, but the snooty doorman tosses her out. After we see Jay Leno checking in, Fifi enters again, this time disguising herself as Johnny's agent, Michelle Lovitz. But the doorman is not fooled, because the real Michelle Lovitz is here too - and she sits on Fifi. Pulling herself out from under Lovitz's weight, Fifi swears that it isn't over until the fat lady sings - and as if on cue, Roseanne Barr literally drops in on Fifi, singing the last lines of "The Star-Spangled Banner". Out in the dumpsters behind the hotel, Fifi weeps that she may never get Johnny's autograph now, but then sees a restaurant delivery man delivering dinner to "some Hollywood hotshot in the hotel". Thinking it's Johnny, Fifi hides in the plate, but she ends up at what appears to be a talk show convention, where we see appearances by David Letterman, Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson, Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey, and Arsenio Hall. Fifi dashes out the window and lands in a trash basket outside the hotel, again crying over her bad luck. But then, Johnny Pew happens to pass by her, but when she asks for his autograph, he claims to not have a pen. He says they'll find one, and in the meantime, he makes her carry his stuff for him.
The Pigs stop off at a drive-in restaurant for lunch at Plucky's request, but to his disbelief, he finds they've already brought their own food (mayo and cream cheese on white bread with the crusts cut off) to the drive-in. A waitress resembling Mitzi skates by to bring the Pigs the cups of water they ordered and asks if they'd like anything else. Plucky attempts to make a huge order, but Wade shuts him up and says "we're good to go." After the family gets on their way again, Plucky gets out a comic book he'd been saving to read - a mint-conditioned copy of Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs #1 - and shows it to Hamton, but Winnie warns him that they can't have Hamton reading on family trips. Plucky dismisses this as her believing that comics rot kids' brains, but Hamton states that he actually gets carsick from reading in the car. Upon finding this out, Plucky tries to get things for Hamton to vomit into, including trying to open the door, but Hamton throws up on his comic book.
The bunnies and Byron, meanwhile, have drifted into the Bayous and find themselves stopping in front of a Southern mansion. The bunnies come up and are greeted by a trio of alligator triplets - Big Boo, Sissy Boo, and Little Boo - who think Buster has come to court them. Buster attempts to escape, but ends up bumping into their dad, Big Daddy Boo, who declares that now Buster has to marry one of his daughters. But since the daughters can't stop bickering over who gets him, Big Daddy Boo to have all three of them be hitched to Buster. ("I can't marry all three of them; that's bigamy!" "No, that's big o' ME!") After having watched this and gotten some giggles at Buster's expense ("I guess this'll teach Buster a thing or two about starting water fights!"), Babs gathers up some fireworks and then approaches the gators, disguised as a fireworks salesman. (When Little Boo attempts to flirt with "him", asking if "he's" married, she brings up "the missus", Byron in a red dress.) She rigs their gazebo with fireworks and launches it into space, but not before Buster escapes. As these 4th of July fireworks go off, the bunnies head back to their raft and continue down the river.
Part 3[]
The Duff family is shown leaving the beach, with Elmyra upset over having lost Furball. They then drive through the Wild Safari Zoo, where Elmyra sets her sights on a cheetah and decides to go after it, despite the P.A. saying that she should not get out of the car ("so that Warner Bros. won't get sued if anyone really does this"). She comes up to the cheetah and spooks him so much he runs off with her grabbing onto his tail, eventually ripping off his fur. Elmyra, now wearing the cheetah's fur, skips around the jungle and comes upon a trio of baby lions, which she chases down. She drags the baby lions out of their hiding places and to a schoolroom she has set up, with several other captive animals as her "students". She reads to them her "favorite bedtime story", actually a book about jungle predators. As she reads, the lion cubs decide to eat the zebra captive, and then Elmyra shoves the book in the face of her gazelle captive when she finds a picture of his species in the book. Then, when she points out to them how the book cites her as the jungle's most feared predator, her imprisoned animals all race out of there. A black panther starts following Elmyra with plans to pounce her, but he ends up falling in a river and having a boulder dropped on him. The cheetah, the lion cubs, and the panther all go to complain to their leader, a lion who sits on a throne. Elmyra comes up and the lion's subjects point her out to him, so he confronts her and roars in her face. Elmyra takes this to mean that the lion wants a haircut and gives him one that resembles Bart Simpson's hairstyle. Horrified, the lion and his subjects run out of the jungle, drag Elmyra's parents out of their car, and take off in it.
The escaping jungle cats have a brief collision with the Pig family's car. Afterward, Plucky asks Wade to stop for a drink of water, so they stop the car at a rest stop, where the Pigs suit up to go clean the public restrooms. While they're at it, Plucky attempts to get a drink from the stop's water fountain, but he's gotten himself stuck to the car seat. When he finally detaches himself, Winnie drags him away from the fountain before he can quench his thirst. Wade then turns on the radio to the K-FUDD radio station (where Elmer Fudd is the DJ), which Plucky considers torture. Hamton gives him a road map to figure out how long it is till they reach Happy World Land, and Plucky uses it to figure out that at the rate they're going, they'll get to their destination on April 6, 2021. It starts raining, and the Pigs pass by a hitchhiker whom they decide to give a lift to town. Although the Pigs are more than welcome to let this stranger in the car, Plucky is immediately creeped out by him, and his suspicions are confirmed when he hears a news flash on the car radio about a psychotic, pig-hating killer on the loose who matches Mr. Hitcher's physical appearance. Plucky tries to write down the phone number to call, but Winnie turns off the radio before the whole number is stated. As Hitcher starts revving up the chainsaw he has concealed in his jacket, Plucky tries to warn the Pigs that this guy is the criminal the radio was talking about, but they won't listen to him. Plucky then decides to send an SOS to Shirley, hoping she'll rush to the rescue. He leaves the message in a mailbox the car passes by, and it gets picked up by a mailman on a bicycle, who then bikes to a mail van (with a license plate sticker that reads "I brake for coyotes") that drives over the Road Runner.
The mailman arrives in the city and delivers Plucky's message to Shirley, but before she can read it, Fowlmouth rushes by and drags her off to the Mega Multiplex. Fifi and Johnny (who has still not signed Fifi's photo) are also at the theater, and Elmyra is also out by this theater, still looking for a new kitty to replace Furball. As Fowlmouth and Shirley arrive, it becomes evident that Fowlmouth is not particularly welcome at this theater. After he takes too long trying to decide on the snacks to get, Fowlmouth gets booted into the theater he and Shirley are seated in. He makes his way to his seat, colliding with several cameos along the way, including Roseanne, Jack Nicholson, Paul Ruebens, and Cher, during which he ends up getting their snacks stuck to his head. The theater lights dim, and the screen shows a promo for the extremely loud "THUD" sound system ("The Audience is Now Deaf"). After that is shown, Johnny comes in, with Fifi carrying his popcorn for him. The screen then shows a commercial for the Acme Gazette in which a writer goes fishing (and doesn't notice Buster and Babs, on their raft, calling for help). The movie itself then starts - Skunknophobia (which is rated "F - Not Suitable for Fowlmouth"), a flick about a man named Horatio who has a fear of skunks (one of which Johnny apparently played the part of). Fowlmouth, having seen the movie 100 times already, keeps talking through the film and won't stop giving away what happens. Eventually, the other audience members get sick of Fowlmouth's blabbering and toss him into the movie itself, where even the film's characters aren't happy with his constant yapping, and they toss him out of the theater altogether. After Fowlmouth gets thrown out, Bimbette Skunk approaches Johnny Pew and asks for his autograph, so he gladly gives it to her, writing it on Fifi's photo. Fifi, finally realizing how much of a jerk Johnny is, furiously chastises him and then kicks him out of the Multiplex too, where he lands in the arms of Elmyra, who mistakes him for a cat and takes him home with her.
Part 4[]
Buster and Babs (and Byron) are still drifting down the river, and Babs confides to Buster that as much as she's come to enjoy the time they've had to spend together, she really misses being back in Acme Acres. Suddenly, their raft collides with a riverboat, The Delta Burke, which they then climb aboard. They meet the ship's captain, Tupelo Toad, who says he doesn't take kindly to stowaways, but then offers to have them perform on the boat's stage after Babs shows him her impressions of Shirley Temple (and then Lucy Ricardo). Buster tries to decline the idea, but Tupelo says he can work something out here.
Elsewhere, Mr. Hitcher makes his move and starts trying to kill Plucky with his chainsaw. Plucky tries to alert the Pigs of his predicament, but they remain blissfully unaware of the hitchhiker's homicide. Eventually, though, Wade lets Hitcher out, and he ends up sawing a telephone pole so that it drops on him, burying him into the ground. Hamton then tells Plucky that they've at last arrived at Happy World Land. After having their picture taken outside the park, they go on the monorail, where Plucky watches and admires the park's rides, all of which inflict bodily harm on the riders. To Plucky's dismay, though, the Pigs are ready to leave immediately after getting off the monorail; according to Wade, they're trying not to overdo their first trip so that they'll have more to do on their next visit.
On the Delta Burke, Buster and Babs come out to perform. Buster tries to do a stand-up based on their river trip, but Babs keeps drifting off into her impressions. Then Buster asks to have the lights turned on so they can see their audience - which, it turns out, is made up entirely of villains who've preyed on them throughout the series, including the possums and gators from earlier. The bunnies make a run for it, but are also chased by Tupelo and his crew. Just when they're surrounded, Byron sees them in trouble and flies into the fray, airlifting the bunnies to land nearby (and knocking ET and Elliot out on the way over). Tupelo comes after them, accompanied by the possums and gators, and to make matters worse, Mr. Hitcher has come back from the grave and is now looking to kill the bunnies. Just when the bunnies and Byron are surrounded again, they get lifted into a tree by Banjo, who tells the bunnies that he isn't carnivorous like his kin. Hitcher starts sawing the tree down (and it crashes on Tupelo and his followers), but the bunnies jump into a nearby mine cart, taking Byron and Banjo with them. Hitcher follows them in another mine cart.
In the meantime, the Pigs arrive back at their house (the trip back home was apparently a lot shorter), and after the hellish car trip he has gone through, Plucky is happy to be back home. But before he can head back to his own house, the Pigs make Plucky stay to watch their slideshow (by chaining him to the projector). It apparently goes on for days, and it's also revealed that Hamton gave Plucky's address to Hitcher. Eventually, the slideshow ends, and Plucky makes a break back for his house, with the projector still chained to his leg.
Back in the mine, Buster, Babs, Byron, and Banjo are still being pursued by Hitcher when their mine carts eventually come to a fork, and Buster manages to pull the switch so that Hitcher's cart goes over a cliff and he falls into the river. Unfortunately for the bunnies, the bridge on their track is out, and they too go over the rails. Luckily, a literal plot hole opens up in the ground and drops the quartet out right over the no-longer-flooded Acme Acres ("I was wondering how those hack writers were going to wrap things up"). They land right in front of Acme Looniversity, which Banjo says he'd like to enroll in. Babs tells him there'll be plenty of time for that when school starts - which, it turns out, is right now. As the rest of their schoolmates come crowding back into the school, Babs remarks to Buster that she's upset that they spent the whole summer on the river. Buster then charms her by saying he couldn't have asked for a better summer than spending it with her - and then he squirts her face one more time. The film ends with the Tiny Toons characters gathering together to sing the closing number, during which Mr. Hitcher shows up to chase down Plucky again, and Babs finally gets back at Buster by dumping a whole gallon of water on him.
Voice cast[]
Name | Character |
---|---|
Charlie Adler | Buster Bunny and Theater usher |
Tress MacNeille | Babs Bunny, Babs' Mother, Big Boo, Emily Duff, Roseanne Barr, Barbara Walters, Hotel chef, Drive-thru Waitress, Horatio's girlfriend |
Gail Matthius | Shirley the Loon and Sissy Boo |
Kath Soucie | Fifi La Fume, Li'l Sneezer, Little Boo and Bimbette Skunk |
Don Messick | Hamton J. Pig and the Radio Announcer |
Joe Alaskey | Plucky Duck, Tupelo Toad, Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Elmer Fudd |
Maurice LaMarche | Dizzy Devil, Ed McMahon, Arsenio Hall, and Superman |
Frank Welker | Gogo, Furrball, Little Beeper, Byron Basset, Uncle Stinky, Vinnie, Road Runner, and various additional voices |
Rob Paulsen | Fowlmouth, Johnny Pew, Mr. Hitcher, Banjo Possum, Hotel Manager, Horatio and the Parking lot attendant |
Cree Summer | Elmyra Duff, Mary Melody, and Oprah Winfrey |
Candi Milo | Sweetie Pie |
Jonathan Winters | Wade Pig |
Edie McClurg | Winnie Pig |
Sorrell Booke | Big Daddy Boo |
Production[]
In 1990, Bugs Bunny magazine reported that Warner Bros. was planning the release of How I Spent My Vacation, then referred to as a "Tiny Toon Adventures home video". Plans for the film began before Tiny Toon Adventures premiered on television. Warner Bros. discussed with executive producer Steven Spielberg whether the film should be released in theaters, but Spielberg insisted on a direct-to-video release. Spielberg said that he wanted to make the film a direct-to-video release because "animated features are ideally suited for the repeat viewing," a factor he found important to the genre's appeal to those watching animated films at home. In an interview for the Los Angeles Times, executive in charge of production Jean MacCurdy did not specify the budget of the film, but stated that it was far more costly than episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures. According to Hal Erickson's Television Cartoon Shows: an Illustrated Encyclopedia, the budget of the average Tiny Toon Adventures episode was approximately $350,000.
How I Spent My Vacation was written by series writers Paul Dini, Nicholas Hollander, Tom Ruegger, and Sherri Stoner. Ruegger also produced the film, and Steven Spielberg was the executive producer. The film was animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, a Japanese studio. The film had eight directors: Rich Aarons, Ken Boyer, Kent Butterworth, Barry Caldwell, Alfred Gimeno, Arthur Leonardi, Byron Vaughns, and Aoyama Hiroshi. The film is about 73 minutes long.
Themes[]
One of the hallmarks of How I Spent My Vacation was the parody of film, popular culture, and celebrities. Videos for Kids noted that the film makes fun of "California culture and youth" with the use of celebrity caricatures, such as those of Roseanne Barr, Johnny Carson, Arsenio Hall, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey, and Sylvester Stallone. The film makes fun of other cartoon characters, such as those of Superman, The Simpsons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Beavis and Butthead, and The Little Mermaid. Babs and Buster's travels down the river are a parody of the film Deliverance.
Jean MacCurdy said that How I Spent My Vacation makes fun of summer vacations by mocking "the boredom of summer and some of those horrible car trips" (an issue that was first explored in National Lampoon's Vacation). In the film, the Hampton family car trip is very taxing for Plucky Duck; he is disgusted by the family and is nearly killed by an escaped lunatic that the family mistakes for a hitchhiker (He happens to be a caricature of Jason Voorhees). The film's fictional theme park, "HappyWorldLand", is a spoof of Disneyland. The film also parodies the THX logo and Deep Note when Fowlmouth and Shirley are at the movie theater.
Home media releases and broadcast[]
How I Spent My Vacation was released direct-to-video on March 11, 1992. The film was released on VHS and LaserDisc formats. MacCurdy said that the film was released at that time to take advantage of the Easter market. Because retailers had high demand for the film, Warner Bros. shipped to them nearly one million copies, which the Los Angeles Times noted as "a record for direct-to-video programs".
How I Spent My Vacation was the first direct-to-video, feature-length animated film released in the United States. At the time, the concept of a direct-to-video animated feature was so strange to consumers that some mistakenly thought How I Spent My Vacation was a collection of Tiny Toon Adventures episodes.
The film later aired on Fox Kids on September 5, 1993, as four Tiny Toon Adventures episodes, episodes 97 through 100. Warner Bros. began to release the Tiny Toon Adventures series on DVD, in volumes, on July 29, 2008. The company released How I Spent My Vacation for the first time on DVD on August 21, 2012 (20 years later). The Hub, which airs Tiny Toon Adventures, has shown the film as a "Hub Family Movie."
Reception[]
Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. Giving three out of four bones, the VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever highlighted the parodies in the film, and noted that "Parents will be [as] equally entertained [as children] by the level of humor and fast-paced action". Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying the film was "[e]pisodic," but praised the voice cast, songs and "funny business". TV Guide called the film a "firecracker", citing the film's many jokes. The book Videos for Kids: The Essential, Indispensable Parent's Guide to Children's Movies on Video praised the "tongue-in-cheek humor" and celebrity caricatures but issued warning to parents, stating that the film may not be appropriate for "children too young to identify satire" because the characters in the film "are rude and combative" and may not be positive role models. Videos for Kids still concluded that the film "should provide an enjoyable viewing experience for the whole family". Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times said that the format of a direct-video film was "unusual", but that some parts of the film were "hilarious", especially the scenes which make fun of Walt Disney World. Since its release, How I Spent My Vacation has been rated as one of the "Top 20 (U.S.-Produced) Direct-to-Video Animated Films" by The Animated Movie Guide.
Rating the film a "C+" overall, Steve Daly of Entertainment Weekly noted that while the film was "superior to most TV fare", he called the film a "pandering kidvid make-over" of the Looney Tunes cartoons on which Tiny Toons was based, saying the characters were immature and the content was "fast without being funny". A 1992 issue of the Video Watchdog was particularly critical, calling the film "a mixed bag" that "sacrificed (...) a cohesive plot for an outline that allows various teams of characters to come up with four stories." The magazine also questioned the point of using characters heavily based on the classic Looney Tunes characters instead of using the classic characters themselves.
The VHS release of How I Spent My Vacation was one of the highest selling videos in the United states; on the Billboard charts, the video ranked 12th in sales in April 1992. In May 1992, How I Spent My Vacation rose to 9th in video sales. On July 18, 1992, How I Spent My Vacation had been on Billboard Magazine's 40 "Top Video Sales" for 16 weeks. On June 27, 1992, the film was ranked the 5th highest on Billboard's "Top Kid Video". On February 6, 1993, How I Spent My Vacation had been on the "Top Kid Video" list for 41 weeks. While it did not state the revenue of the film, the Toronto Star stated that the film sold so well that Warner Bros. decided to release videos of Tiny Toon Adventures episodes.
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