'Christmas Vacation' filming locations you can visit in Colorado
Some scenes of the popular holiday movie "Christmas Vacation" were filmed in Colorado, and there are places in the film that you can still visit today.
DENVER (KDVR) -- When watching winter, holiday and Christmas movies this season, Coloradans might notice some familiar places in popular films.
Colorado is the setting for many popular winter, holiday and Christmas movies, some that were filmed in Colorado and some that are based in Colorado but filmed elsewhere.
One of the most popular of the many holiday movies that were filmed in Colorado is “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” The story follows Clark Griswold and his efforts to make a good old-fashioned Christmas for his family. Though it is set in Chicago, many scenes were filmed in the Colroado mountains in places like Breckenridge, Frisco and Silverthorne.
The film was released 35 years ago, but there are a few places in Colorado featured in scenes of the movie that you can still visit today.
The road rage scene - Silverthorne
One of the first scenes of the movie shows the Griswold family's adventure to pick out their Christmas tree.
During the drive to the tree lot, the family sings Christmas songs and Clark gets into a road rage battle with another driver. A distracted Clark drives the family station wagon underneath a semi-truck hauling logs. This was filmed on Highway 9 north of Silverthorne, according to IMDb.
Picking a Christmas tree - Breckenridge
At the end of the drive, the family's vehicle flies off the road and into a Christmas tree lot. This was filmed on Tiger Road between Highlands Drive and Braddock Drive in Breckenridge, according to IMDb.
The family trudges through deep snow until they approach a large pine tree, where Clark, Ellen, Audrey and Russ gather and look up at the tree (except Audrey, whose eyes were frozen). The family decides it is the perfect tree despite having forgotten to bring a saw to cut it down with.
This scene was filmed at the Breckenridge Golf Course, according to GoBreck. The area looks a little different now, as the filming was done before the Highlands subdivision was built.
Clark's high-speed snow saucer - Breckenridge
In another scene, Clark, cousin Eddy and the kids all head up to the mountain to go sledding. Clark decides this is a great time to try out his company's new cooking spray, which makes the saucer-type sled cruise down the mountain very quickly.
After Clark says "Later dudes. Let 'er rip hang 10," a blur of his silhouette speeds down the mountain. This scene was filmed at the Breckenridge Ski Area on Peak 8.
After he plunges through a few snow banks, Clark launches onto a busy road. Clark is seen dodging traffic on that road, which was filmed on Summit Boulevard in Frisco.
The Walmart scenes - Frisco
Clark and the sled skid across the road and land in a Toys For Tots bin in front of a Walmart, which is when Eddy says "Bingo!"
That Walmart is located at 804 Summit Boulevard in Frisco, according to IMDb. The store is still there today and looks a little different from the movie with updated signs and exterior paint.
That same store is used for another scene in the movie in which Clark and Eddy go shopping for the family. The scene shows Clark and Eddy loading up the cart, with Clark placing a light bulb in the cart right before Eddy smashes it with a bag of dog food on top.
The attic scene - Frisco
According to GoBreck, Breckenridge received over seven feet of snow within just five days, so the crew couldn't film outside and had to focus on interior scenes. So, they built a cover set on the gym floor of Summit High School in Frisco, which is now Summit Middle School.
The scene shows Clark watching old home movies in the attic of their house was filmed in that gym.
Some other shots of Colorado and local Coloradans were included in the film as extras. Christmas Vacation can be streamed this holiday season on platforms like Hulu, Max, Philo, YouTube, Disney+, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, the Roku Channel and more.
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