Vacation Haunt

Vacation Haunt is the 27th episode of Danny Phantom: The New Adventures.

Summary
When the bus heading to Minnesota breaks down, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, Mr. Lancer, Ms. Tetslaff, and the rest of the Casper High students have to stay at an old house for the night in order to get it fixed. But, oh dear, things go wrong when the house gets haunted and villain ghosts Vortex, Nocturne, and Undergrowth cause nightmares, create violent storms, possess everyone into zombies, and get revenge on Danny, Sam, and Valerie. Will they stop them before the bus gets fixed by sunup?

Plot
Cold Opening: Sam is excited that the class are on their way to Minneapolis, Minnesota for their week vacation, but she tells Danny that he's not excited, since he's surrounded by so many students, including Valerie. On their way there through a spooky forest with dead trees and thorny bushes, a big storm happens, and a bus's battery overheats, causing everyone to be stranded. Mr. Lancer and Mrs. Tetslaff announce to everyone that they're all stuck somewhere in the haunted forest, after calling the garage to fix the bus. Soon, luckily, Danny points to an old abandoned house somewhere nearby. As Lancer and Tetslaff lead them there, however, Danny's ghost enemies Undergrowth, Nocturne, and Vortex watch them from a distance, realizing that soon they will abduct everyone.

Opening theme

Episode title screen: Vacation Haunt (Caption: A frightening Halloween episode!) (Title screen shows Danny Phantom, Sam (in Danny's arms) and Valerie escaping Undergrowth, Vortex, and Nocturne, with Tucker, Dash, and the students mind controlled by Undergrowth and a thunderstorm created by Vortex)

As everyone inspects a very eerie and abandoned but inviting chalet, (Sam: "Even for a Goth it looks like we have an unusual feeling about this place.") they head there for a night's rest. Inside the house, Valerie points out to Paulina that there could be ghosts in there she could hunt down, as Tucker is about to ask Sam if it's scary in there, which he's given the answer when Sam snarls at him wearing fake vampire fangs, causing him to bump right onto Star in front. Star angrily tells Tucker to stop doing that, to which Sam replies that she was having fun with fangs Dora Mattingly denounced during the princess pageant. Lancer and Tetslaff announces that since they forgot to bring their suitcases from the bus which is taken to be fixed, they should have to sleep in bed without their pajamas (luckily, Paulina has her night mask in her backpack). Later, Sam, Valerie, Star, and Paulina are about to get ready for shuteye in the master bedroom by the window, while in the other bedroom Dash, Kwan, Tucker, and Danny are about to get some slumber. Each two share one bed each.

Later in the night Undergrowth releases his army of mutated cactuses and Venus flytraps and Nocturne releases his army of Sleep Walkers to attack every person in the house while Vortex creates deadly and dangerous storms to prevent them from sleeping. As the girls are sleeping in the bedroom, Star suddenly notices the message on the wall caused by a lightning flash; it says "Beware! You must be destroyed!" Star wakes Paulina up to tell her that the place is dangerous to sleep but she doesn't believe her so she heads back to sleep. Just then, what neither Star, Valerie, nor Sam know is that two mutated plants arose from the window and abduct Paulina unexpectedly. When Star wakes up, she is shocked that Paulina has disappeared! She attempts to wake up Valerie and Sam. Meanwhile, in another room, as the boys are sleeping, the Sleep Walkers abduct Dash and Tucker and fly out the window, causing Kwan and Danny to wake up to discover they've disappeared too! As they argue over what they've done, Star, Sam, and Valerie burst into the room to tell them that they've taken Paulina. Danny thinks this place seems to be dangerous and his gut feels that every person (including Lancer and Tetslaff) have been taken away by Undergrowth, Nocturne, and Vortex. Sam wonders where they've taken Paulina, Dash, and Tucker. They must have to prepare to discover what has happened to everyone. With Kwan armed with an ax, Star with a baseball bat, and Sam and Danny together, they must follow trails of Undergrowth, Nocturne, and Vortex to investigate when Valerie calls over so she can join. But, Sam warns Valerie not to come because the forest is to dangerous to go into, and forces her to stay home and sleep.

As the group investigate the disappearances through a haunted forest, they soon notice a green glow up ahead. To their horror, they soon realize Undergrowth, Nocturne, and Vortex are behind all this. And worse than that, Lancer, Tetslaff, and all the students are being succumbed to the mind vines, being zombified. And even worse, they make Dash, Paulina, and Tucker held hostage, bound to the trees in vines. "What on earth…?" Sam says.

(Commercial break)

As they watch, Star figures out what the ghosts are up to, and Kwan, feeling frightened, tells them that they should come back. To their very eyes, Undergrowth possesses Dash, Paulina, and Tucker with mind vines, turning them into zombies. Kwan and Star, armed with weapons, try to stop them and save Dash and Paulina, but Danny and Sam try to warn them not to because it's dangerous. Of course, they both end up getting succumbed to the mind vines as well. After Danny and Sam cry out in horror, Undergrowth, Nocturne, and Vortex turn over to see them. Danny goes ghost and carries Sam in his arms as he's about to fly away back to the house from the ghosts, but the zombified humans plant the seeds and grow killer weeds that attack the couple unconsciously. Then later they wake up, realizing that they're suspended upside down above deadly vampire plants, bound in vines and gagged overnose with green cloth (whatever that is). As Undergrowth watches them get constricted to death, Nocturne interrupts him that they forgot one more person; she's back in the house! Undergrowth orders his zombie slaves to attack her.

Meanwhile, back at the house Valerie is tossing and turning in bed having a terrible nightmare caused by a storm (thanks to Nocturne and Vortex) about herself in her suit attacking ghosts when a big ecto-asteroid (from the last Danny Phantom special episode "Phantom Planet") finally destroys Earth and its population including the Ghost Zone, causing her to wake up screaming in fright when she hears some noises coming from outside. She leaves the bed, exits the bedroom, goes downstairs, and in shock, sees every person possessed into plant zombies about to attack her, smashing through the windows and walls and overgrowing mutated weeds! Valerie hurries back upstairs, slams the door on the zombies, and blocks it with an armchair, hoping for her to be safe from them when she notices something supernatural outside the window. Yikes, she discovers Danny and Sam in peril, about to be killed off by vampire plants! In order to rescue them, Valerie switches into her ghost-hunting suit and when she's about to escape the window, her good conscience suddenly appears and warns her not to leave the house because it's dangerous outside, just like Sam told her. Her bad conscience suddenly appears and tells her to go outside and save Danny and Sam and both consciences get into an argument. Not having time, Valerie screams and shut them up and flies out of the house, in time escaping from the zombies. She successfully saves Danny and Sam from being eaten from the vampire plants and brings them to a safe distance. There, she removes the vines and gags from Danny and Sam, who wakes up and notices her, and angrily yells at her that she told her not to leave the house because it's much to dangerous. Valerie calms her down and tells them that they're safe from Undergrowth, Nocturne, Vortex, and Undergrowth's slaves for now. Danny soon learns that he can't fight them all alone, and tells them about the idea on how to stop Undergrowth, Nocturne, and Vortex together. They all know what to do.

Later by sunup, Danny, Sam, and Valerie wander through mutated trees and thorny bushes that can be attacked by Danny's ice powers. Sam is now equipped with a ghost-hunting weapon and Tucker's mood helmet to help control the weather by increasing sunshine to defeat Vortex. When they meet up with Undergrowth, Nocturne, and Vortex, they have their mutated plants and Sleep Walkers attack them. Valerie has a hard time stopping the plants and briefly gets succumbed to one of the mind vines--only for it to get frozen and get broken apart by Danny's ice powers. Sam tries attacking the Sleep Walkers with a weapon, but ends up getting taken away by them, whom Danny freezes and destroys them and rescues her. In time, Danny successfully destroys Undergrowth with his ice bomb and Sam, wearing a mood helmet, weakens Nocturne and Vortex by making storm clear and the sun rise and sucks them into the Fenton thermos. Soon everyone is back to normal. Danny, Sam, and Valerie welcome Tucker back his senses. Shortly the mechanic has brought back the now-fixed bus and they now head on to Minnesota.

Later, as they visit the Mall of America, Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie eat their lunch at a pizzeria and Tucker accidentally steals two slices of pepperoni pizzas from Paulina and Star and gives one to Valerie, which causes the girls to angrily stomp toward him and start chasing him, while afterwards Danny, Sam, and Valerie head to an underground aquarium, thus ending this episode.

Closing credits

Cast

 * David Kaufman as Danny, Walla
 * Kath Soucie as Girls on Beach
 * Grey Delisle Griffin as Sam, Walla
 * Rickey D'Shon Collins as Tucker
 * Jason Marsden as Dash, Walla
 * Eric Bauza as Kwan
 * Aimee Carrero as Paulina, Walla
 * Tara Strong as Star, Walla
 * Cree Summer as Valerie
 * Ron Perlman as Mr. Lancer
 * Laraine Newman as Ms. Tetslaff
 * Mark Hamill as Undergrowth
 * James Garrett as Nocturne
 * Dave Boat as Vortex

Trivia

 * This is the second Halloween episode; the first being "Fright Night". It references the 1979 movie The Amityville Horror, Little Shop of Horrors, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Mothra, and The Walking Dead. It has a darker tone than "Urban Jungle".
 * The scenes where a boy runs away from the mind vine until it quickly attaches to his head, making him a zombie and where every vegetized zombie slave returns to normal is recycled during this episode from last series' "Urban Jungle".
 * Danny's family does not appear, and this episode does not take place in Amity Park like in "Claw of the Wild".
 * Unusual for what Undergrowth did to her in "Urban Jungle", he never possesses Sam Manson to become his evil queen again; instead, Sam, along with Danny Phantom, are later bound together in vines and gagged overnose while suspended upside down above a group of bloodthirsty vampire plants, that wait to devour them.
 * Unlike being shown in Mothra, the vampire plants grow from the ground.
 * For the second time in Danny Phantom history, Sam shows her fake vampire fangs like she did first time during the pageant auditions in "Beauty Marked", when Dora Mattingly denounced them. In this episode, she nearly scares Tucker wearing fangs when he asks her if it's scary in the house.
 * In the episode's conclusion, the Mall of America is featured, with a pizzeria on the second floor that resembles the real-life Villa Pizza, and the Sea Life Minnesota aquarium is referred by Sam as an "underwater aquarium" as she, Danny, and Valerie head there while Tucker is chased away by very angry Paulina and Star. That closely mirrors closely to the ending of "Beauty Marked" and "King Tuck".
 * The two girls on beach from "Torrent of Terror" appear "playing" catch with Sam when she wears a mood helmet, causing a dark, stormy night to turn into a bright sunny morning, causing Vortex and Nocturne to be very weak and sucked into Danny's Fenton thermos.
 * Tucker, Dash, Paulina, Kwan, Star, other students, and Mr. Lancer had already been succumbed to the mind vines in "Urban Jungle". (Maddie, Jack, Jazz, Pamela, Jeremy, and the other adults did that too, but not in this episode.)
 * For the first time in Danny Phantom history, Sam Manson is bound and gagged. In this episode, she and Danny are bound in vines and gagged with green cloth. This is not the first time Danny is bound and gagged. Sam will be bound and gagged two more times: in Revenge of the Phantom Master (where she and Tucker tied to a chair and gagged with white cloth) and during the beginning of Bad Girls' Revenge (where each female ghost villain bounds each good girl with her arms while she's overnose gagged with white cloth).