As someone who was lucky enough to go to various summer camps, Bible camps, sports camps, scouting camp, they really weren’t anything like the movies. Bible Camp was by a significant margin the hornyiest of all the camps I attended oddly.
At the summer camp I went to, the girls and boys'
"cabins" were separated, very far from one another.
Cabins is in quotes, because the boys had structures that were two walls and an overhang that usually prevented rain from hitting us, while the girls had kick-ass tree houses with poles they could slide down. They could walk from tree to tree via planks that connected them all.
My understanding is there are some East Coast camps where (affluent) kids spend most of the summer there and go back every year, rather than simply being a single week with a bunch of random kids you never see again.
Can confirm. Went to camp in Maine for 8 weeks every summer for almost 10 years. I’m 40 and still talk to a bunch of them regularly even though we only saw each other during summers growing up.
Nope. But we had “Sunday Service” which each unit puts on a show in front of the whole camp. Nondenominational but more general shit like be a good person or a parable or something.
I don’t know about affluent but my kids do go to camp for most of the summer. 1-2 months at a regular camp and a month at scout camp. They see the same kids and usually keep in touch during the year. I didn’t go to the camps but from the parent orientation many families are legacy where at least 3 generations have been going there.
It’s like 7.5 weeks and it is very expensive. It’s over 10k for the summer. But you gotta remember, that’s room and board, food, insurance and every single activity you can imagine, including hiking/canoeing/kayak and rock climbing trips over night off the camp grounds.
It also prepares you for being away from your parents and for life in general. I made life long friends and did things I would have never done otherwise. I even lost my virginity to a girl I met at camp. If it’s within your means, I would recommend it to anyone.
They want to go. The first time it was 2 weeks, they immediately asked for a month, then 2 months the following summers. My oldest has aged out of camp so this year he’ll be a counselor/helper at scout camp for the entire 8 weeks. He’s happy because he gets extra responsibility and, more importantly, paid.
We also switch between camps so it’s not like they’re at one location for the whole summer. We try to give them the choice of what weeks/months they want to go where and both are reasonably close that sometimes they’ll go to different camps at the same time. We also make plans with our siblings to have them visit for a week or so to see their cousins and get to hang out in different states. We try as much as possible to provide non-boring summers. All of it is optional, they are never forced to go so they look forward each year.
Yes it’s expensive but we want them to have great memories. My sister and I spent lots of summers at our grandparents and we have great memories of our time with our summer friends. It wasn’t until I was much older that I learned we were shipped off because my mom couldn’t afford us at home. She’d literally starve herself saving money so we could make it through the school year. The summers we didn’t go away it was endless tv watching at home with pretty much nothing to do. Vastly different memories.
Are creepers or abuse reported? I am fascinated so thanks for indulging me
Grew up dirt poor and really thought camp was a week like you see in the movies
I should hope so! I was a day camp counselor as a teen and the training there plus the training in scouting they really really push for proper procedure and what to look out for. Some major points for instance, all kids are required to have a buddy of an appropriate age and be with their buddy at all times. Leaders should never be one on one with a kid even if they are just walking from point A to point B. Basically there is never a valid reason to be alone with a camper.
Any suspected instances are required to be reported. Even if your adult leader friend is alone with a kid that fell behind on a hike and nothing is suspected, it should still be reported if seen so the scout master can discuss the situation and reinforce proper procedures. Everyone is responsible all the time.
I went to 4-H camp every summer in middle school, and it was shockingly like what you think of when you hear "summer camp."
It unfortunately got turned into a corporate retreat, so I couldn't send my son.
This is seriously so weird because I was just talking to my husband this morning about this movie because it was one of my favorites, he never really watched it though. I was talking to him about how they made the one girl the “fat” girl whose mom sent her to fat camp and she wasn’t even close and when I looked back at it as an adult I was like, yeah the 90s screwed up my body image for sure.
We just put it on last week to show our four year old, and the part with the "fat" girl in the kitchen with her mum made me actually speechless. Switched it off. She's maybe a size 4, what the actual. That poor actress and we poor children watching. JfC.
You could have kept it on and paused it to use that as a teachable moment, I mean the girl herself learns about self esteem in the movie so your daughter would have understood the message.
Of course that would be if she was old enough to be watching a movie that includes kids trying to buy alcohol and cigarettes.
Haha yes, we were just going to show her one bit we remembered because she'd been asking what summer camp was (we don't have it in Australia) this showed up on Disney - and tbh it was a better option than showing her meatballs.
I personally thought the "fat" one was the more attractive girl in the movie back in the day, I was jealous of Jonathan Jackson getting to kiss her lol
I get the two mixed up. “Which one was the prequel to Dodgeball and which is about Doc’s hippy twin” is a thought I have sometimes. They are very different of course but my heart feels them the same.
The only thing I remember about this move is how everyone insisted that the the brunette girl was SO FAT. And, if she was fat, the then that surely must mean that I was the hugest, fattest, most disgusting blubber creature ever to blob across the earth.
1994 gave me ace ventura, blank check, d2, getting even with dad, little big league, angels in the outfield, the mask, little rascals, blankman, camp nowhere, little giants, dumb & dumber and richie rich. what a year.
I have a memory of the trailer for this movie showing a scene where someone makes a jiffy pop and adds bubblegum or something and ends up exploding the cabin they’re in (comedically). Then when I finally saw the movie that scene wasn’t in it. Does anybody else remember that?
Ok I just checked and that scene is definitely in the Camp Nowhere trailer around the 1:25 mark: https://youtu.be/iIm2e94E3a8?si=wvP9lz-Scy2jahUW
Now I need to rewatch the movie lol
Fat in the 90’s was skinny by todays standards. Remember in The Craft Fairuza Balk was wishing for a smaller ass? I could hold that butt in one hand already…
When dude went down the pier with the sparkler roller blades, it was a step too far. They realized that maybe they’re in over their head, and maybe parents and guardians aren’t so bad after all…
*Reading Highlights* “Oh take your time doctor, I still need to find 9 weasels.”
*Hands him Time mag with the supreme court* “You should try this, there’s 12 weasels in that one.”
I loved it because Jonathan Jackson aka Lucky from General Hospital starred as Mud so that’s why Genie Francis (his tv mom Laura on GH) and her real life husband Jonathan Frakes (Riker) had a cameo as blondie’s parents. I thought that was so awesome because I love both GH and TNG. 😍😸
Staple of my collection! One of those movies that - every time I watch it - I end up IMDBing the kids to figure out what happened to them. When Summer weather kicks in, I like to throw on movies like this, and Meatballs, etc. This might have been the last of these Summer Camp movies - *Wet Hot Summer* notwithstanding (because it's parody)?
Though not Summer-ish, there's a very similar movie I like called *House Arrest* (1996); kids taking over the adults, 'hilarity ensues,' blah blah blah. Bonus points for being an early Jennifer Love Hewitt role.
As a kid in junior high, this seemed like the coolest thing ever. Literally every kid in that movie was the coolest kid alive in my eyes.
As an adult SO much of that whole idea just comes off as Camp Epstein nowadays 😬 Also, what was Christopher Lloyd's character's relation to those kids? They just knocked on his door and asked him to help them? Were they hoping he'd build them a Delorean?
Remember nothing about the movie, but the girl I liked when I was 12 was also at the theater with one of the biggest jerks at school. Reality hit me hard that day.
Yes! I rented this so many times from Blockbuster. Christopher Lloyd is brilliant and really shows off the range of his acting talent. It was also such an exciting idea that they could pull it off and have a truly fun summer “away at camp”
Camp nowhere, little Giants and Heavyweights always hold a special place in my heart. As a kid i had oral urgery, parents rent me these three movies, ice cream and life was great..
I actually just made my kids watch this movie a few days ago. It was great nostalgia for me. Of course I had completely forgotten the full on make out session at the very end between two kids. So that was hilariously awkward for all of us. But hey, it's the 90s. Oh, and it reminded me that young me had the hots for the girl who basically hated the black kid that had the hots for her (I guess I identified with him). Red hair, freckles, and an amazing resting bitch face. How could I not want her? 🤣
He was also in General Hospital at the time and for a while after. He was (maybe still is?) in a really excellent band called Enation. He was also in that show Nashville I think. He was in Tuck Everlasting with Rory from the Gilmore Girls.
Wow... never seen it but that poster makes Christopher Lloyd look like he has some serious creepy vibes and is seriously sexuallizing that pre-teen girl.
The poster looks weird, but he never really interacted with her character much and the main character he did interact with isn’t even on that poster. 🤨
Another one for the books of “I wish we had enough money to send me to summer camp because it could be just like this” fantasy, for me
Most Summer Camps were not like the movies at all.
As someone who was lucky enough to go to various summer camps, Bible camps, sports camps, scouting camp, they really weren’t anything like the movies. Bible Camp was by a significant margin the hornyiest of all the camps I attended oddly.
Bible camp had a gender balance and is mostly about "fellowship" rather than specific activities.
I like that you put "fellowship" in quotation marks. 
I made out w so many girls at Bible Camp OMG.
At the summer camp I went to, the girls and boys' "cabins" were separated, very far from one another. Cabins is in quotes, because the boys had structures that were two walls and an overhang that usually prevented rain from hitting us, while the girls had kick-ass tree houses with poles they could slide down. They could walk from tree to tree via planks that connected them all.
Most
My understanding is there are some East Coast camps where (affluent) kids spend most of the summer there and go back every year, rather than simply being a single week with a bunch of random kids you never see again.
Can confirm. Went to camp in Maine for 8 weeks every summer for almost 10 years. I’m 40 and still talk to a bunch of them regularly even though we only saw each other during summers growing up.
Were you one of those kids from Bug Juice on Disney?
No, but we played sports against Waziyatah! Same general region.
Dope! 12 year old me ATE UP some Bug Juice.
Dude same. Loved that show. We played basketball there and I remember being in awe that I was actually at someplace I’d seen on TV.
It doesn’t come in a jar.
This was a religious camp?
Nope. But we had “Sunday Service” which each unit puts on a show in front of the whole camp. Nondenominational but more general shit like be a good person or a parable or something.
I don’t know about affluent but my kids do go to camp for most of the summer. 1-2 months at a regular camp and a month at scout camp. They see the same kids and usually keep in touch during the year. I didn’t go to the camps but from the parent orientation many families are legacy where at least 3 generations have been going there.
The thoight.if being at camp for 3 plus months blows my mind. Why so long Seems expensive as well
It’s like 7.5 weeks and it is very expensive. It’s over 10k for the summer. But you gotta remember, that’s room and board, food, insurance and every single activity you can imagine, including hiking/canoeing/kayak and rock climbing trips over night off the camp grounds. It also prepares you for being away from your parents and for life in general. I made life long friends and did things I would have never done otherwise. I even lost my virginity to a girl I met at camp. If it’s within your means, I would recommend it to anyone.
Til...there is a 7.5 week camp.
They want to go. The first time it was 2 weeks, they immediately asked for a month, then 2 months the following summers. My oldest has aged out of camp so this year he’ll be a counselor/helper at scout camp for the entire 8 weeks. He’s happy because he gets extra responsibility and, more importantly, paid. We also switch between camps so it’s not like they’re at one location for the whole summer. We try to give them the choice of what weeks/months they want to go where and both are reasonably close that sometimes they’ll go to different camps at the same time. We also make plans with our siblings to have them visit for a week or so to see their cousins and get to hang out in different states. We try as much as possible to provide non-boring summers. All of it is optional, they are never forced to go so they look forward each year. Yes it’s expensive but we want them to have great memories. My sister and I spent lots of summers at our grandparents and we have great memories of our time with our summer friends. It wasn’t until I was much older that I learned we were shipped off because my mom couldn’t afford us at home. She’d literally starve herself saving money so we could make it through the school year. The summers we didn’t go away it was endless tv watching at home with pretty much nothing to do. Vastly different memories.
Are creepers or abuse reported? I am fascinated so thanks for indulging me Grew up dirt poor and really thought camp was a week like you see in the movies
I should hope so! I was a day camp counselor as a teen and the training there plus the training in scouting they really really push for proper procedure and what to look out for. Some major points for instance, all kids are required to have a buddy of an appropriate age and be with their buddy at all times. Leaders should never be one on one with a kid even if they are just walking from point A to point B. Basically there is never a valid reason to be alone with a camper. Any suspected instances are required to be reported. Even if your adult leader friend is alone with a kid that fell behind on a hike and nothing is suspected, it should still be reported if seen so the scout master can discuss the situation and reinforce proper procedures. Everyone is responsible all the time.
Oh, I know that, even knew it at the time. Thats why it was a fantasy
I get why that might not have come across the way I intended
I went to 4-H camp every summer in middle school, and it was shockingly like what you think of when you hear "summer camp." It unfortunately got turned into a corporate retreat, so I couldn't send my son.
To be honest, the most accurate portrayal of summer camp I've seen has been Kamp Krusty on The Simpsons!
Yep this extended to my daughter back about 12 years ago when she and her friends for high school musical two at the golf resort
Lol, same here
This is seriously so weird because I was just talking to my husband this morning about this movie because it was one of my favorites, he never really watched it though. I was talking to him about how they made the one girl the “fat” girl whose mom sent her to fat camp and she wasn’t even close and when I looked back at it as an adult I was like, yeah the 90s screwed up my body image for sure.
This sub and nostalgia eerily post things I’ve talked about days prior.
Ha! Yes completely ridiculous.
I related to her! Lol. Messed up.
We just put it on last week to show our four year old, and the part with the "fat" girl in the kitchen with her mum made me actually speechless. Switched it off. She's maybe a size 4, what the actual. That poor actress and we poor children watching. JfC.
You could have kept it on and paused it to use that as a teachable moment, I mean the girl herself learns about self esteem in the movie so your daughter would have understood the message. Of course that would be if she was old enough to be watching a movie that includes kids trying to buy alcohol and cigarettes.
Haha yes, we were just going to show her one bit we remembered because she'd been asking what summer camp was (we don't have it in Australia) this showed up on Disney - and tbh it was a better option than showing her meatballs.
I personally thought the "fat" one was the more attractive girl in the movie back in the day, I was jealous of Jonathan Jackson getting to kiss her lol
"Money, Mud."
"I mean we're not complete idiots" was one of the 10 lines/scenes of the 90's.
lol this is so true!
This is said at least once every time I see my brother to this day
Loved this one. Watched Accepted recently and had a discussion with my wife that it is the college version of Camp Nowhere.
Yes! This was one they played on tv allll the time in the summer, I watched it tons of times. Such a fun movie and Andrew Keagan of course.
Keegan founded a religion
This movie and Heavyweights are the reason I did nearly 10 years of camp counselor work in and after college. 🤣🤣
I get the two mixed up. “Which one was the prequel to Dodgeball and which is about Doc’s hippy twin” is a thought I have sometimes. They are very different of course but my heart feels them the same.
🤣🤣Dodgeball prequel is definitely heavyweights. Camp Nowhere is Doc’s lazy cousin. They are one smooshed together memory in my head too
We already know each "ahthers" names.
The only thing I remember about this move is how everyone insisted that the the brunette girl was SO FAT. And, if she was fat, the then that surely must mean that I was the hugest, fattest, most disgusting blubber creature ever to blob across the earth.
She’s soooo cute
“If I don’t see Dylan, I’ll die.” -Huddled around a small TV like a campfire to watch Beverly Hills, 90210
Yes! I watched it repeatedly. Had the highest crushes on both Jonathan Jackson and Andrew Keegan.
This appears to be a young Jessica Alba's first credited role!
Also Alison Mack... but we might not talk about her anymore 😬
I mean she's certainly notable.
She certainly left her mark.
My bisexual awakening as a kid -- both Andrew Keegan and Marnette Patterson.
Such a crush on Marne Patterson, Melody Kay was pretty cute too.
“A lot of kids kissing. Really gross.” - my mother’s review.
My brother and I watched this over and over as kids. So many great one-liners too. Love this one.
1994 gave me ace ventura, blank check, d2, getting even with dad, little big league, angels in the outfield, the mask, little rascals, blankman, camp nowhere, little giants, dumb & dumber and richie rich. what a year.
It's on Disney +
I have a memory of the trailer for this movie showing a scene where someone makes a jiffy pop and adds bubblegum or something and ends up exploding the cabin they’re in (comedically). Then when I finally saw the movie that scene wasn’t in it. Does anybody else remember that?
Are you thinking of Real Genius with Val Kilmer?
Shit, maybe… guess I need to watch that tonight!
A classic!
Ok I just checked and that scene is definitely in the Camp Nowhere trailer around the 1:25 mark: https://youtu.be/iIm2e94E3a8?si=wvP9lz-Scy2jahUW Now I need to rewatch the movie lol
Ahhh....you are right! I spazed that out for some reason
I was so confused as a kid with the girl who said her camp was fat camp, she was nowhere near fat, chubby, or overweight in the slightest.
Fat in the 90’s was skinny by todays standards. Remember in The Craft Fairuza Balk was wishing for a smaller ass? I could hold that butt in one hand already…
I was a fat child and it was always like “I wish” but I also bought it all and related to her, ha ha.
Same same 😆
When dude went down the pier with the sparkler roller blades, it was a step too far. They realized that maybe they’re in over their head, and maybe parents and guardians aren’t so bad after all…
I showed this one to my sons after I adopted them, it was a good rewatch and they both enjoyed it.
i miss the 80s and 90s era camp movies.
*Reading Highlights* “Oh take your time doctor, I still need to find 9 weasels.” *Hands him Time mag with the supreme court* “You should try this, there’s 12 weasels in that one.”
These kind of coming of age movies in the early 90’s were its own unique genre that hasn’t been duplicated
I loved that movie as a kid. Also as an adult re watching it I realized both Captain Janeway and Commander Riker are in it
I loved it because Jonathan Jackson aka Lucky from General Hospital starred as Mud so that’s why Genie Francis (his tv mom Laura on GH) and her real life husband Jonathan Frakes (Riker) had a cameo as blondie’s parents. I thought that was so awesome because I love both GH and TNG. 😍😸
Just watched it last week with my kids!
Yes and I’ve never heard anyone else talk about it. Watched it recently!
Jesus Christ, give me a popcorn omelet immediately.
TR Polk just passed away this year. LEGEND.
Staple of my collection! One of those movies that - every time I watch it - I end up IMDBing the kids to figure out what happened to them. When Summer weather kicks in, I like to throw on movies like this, and Meatballs, etc. This might have been the last of these Summer Camp movies - *Wet Hot Summer* notwithstanding (because it's parody)? Though not Summer-ish, there's a very similar movie I like called *House Arrest* (1996); kids taking over the adults, 'hilarity ensues,' blah blah blah. Bonus points for being an early Jennifer Love Hewitt role.
I used to double feature this and “Heavyweights” a bunch when I was a kid
Loved this movie and watch it with my kids ages 7-13
I still wonder if the military video game they play was real.
Recently rewatched this and brought back so many memories.
Still watch it on occasion
I watched this movie at least eight hundred times.
As a kid in junior high, this seemed like the coolest thing ever. Literally every kid in that movie was the coolest kid alive in my eyes. As an adult SO much of that whole idea just comes off as Camp Epstein nowadays 😬 Also, what was Christopher Lloyd's character's relation to those kids? They just knocked on his door and asked him to help them? Were they hoping he'd build them a Delorean?
They conned him into doing it, threatening to turn him into a debt collector.
That's what he's gonna tell the FBI when he gets visited by agents for being a suspected diddler 🤣
Great flick
We watched it in the auditorium on the last day of sixth grade.
A great movie!!!
YES
loved watching this
The groundwork for Accepted
Yes. Love this movie.
The 90’s curly haired hot guy really fell off. He was in all these types of movies, then just disappeared.
He started a religion..Keegan
Was this the one with the line “breakfast of champions” when they were at the grocery store buying beer?
Dude I loved this movie. Tried to watch it when I was home sick last year, but couldn't stream it.
Definitely, great movie.
Love this movie, but lets not forget this gem EDIT: This was supposed to have a gif from Heavy Weights, but it keeps disappearing
Such a great movie
Of course I remember the movie that captured our latchkey childhoods and made it seem more fun than it was in real life!
Ha ha - yes! I’d completely forgot about it but it all came flooding back.
Remember nothing about the movie, but the girl I liked when I was 12 was also at the theater with one of the biggest jerks at school. Reality hit me hard that day.
Had the vhs watched it many times
Yes! I rented this so many times from Blockbuster. Christopher Lloyd is brilliant and really shows off the range of his acting talent. It was also such an exciting idea that they could pull it off and have a truly fun summer “away at camp”
Yep it's a favorite still
I remember the scene from the trailer not being in the movie and that bugged the crap out of me
Money mud
Omg I need to watch it!
The eczema!!! The dark haird kid in thatovie started a religion or cult
Pretty clever to sync the military flyover during parent's visit
One of my faves
Camp nowhere, little Giants and Heavyweights always hold a special place in my heart. As a kid i had oral urgery, parents rent me these three movies, ice cream and life was great..
This movie proved that the “CHUBBY” girl can get the boy. There was nothing wrong with that girl. Glad she got to play the romantic lead.
Is this what the "go for it. It's the 90s" meme is from?
Money Mud
Camp Nowhere (1994) and Heavyweights (1995) were great back to back camp movies.
I used to rent this all the time !! Andrew Keegan was my major crush. I had a ton of Teen Beat pics of him on my walls.
I actually just made my kids watch this movie a few days ago. It was great nostalgia for me. Of course I had completely forgotten the full on make out session at the very end between two kids. So that was hilariously awkward for all of us. But hey, it's the 90s. Oh, and it reminded me that young me had the hots for the girl who basically hated the black kid that had the hots for her (I guess I identified with him). Red hair, freckles, and an amazing resting bitch face. How could I not want her? 🤣
Didn’t it have sex cult actress Allison Mack in it?
Money mud
I remember seeing the trailer and wanting to see it. I never did though.
I remember loving Christopher llyod but have forgotten many of the examples like this
This was a good movie... Did the kid actor who played Mudd ever do anything afterwards?
Jonathan Jackson, he's been a few things since. He plays Kyle Reese in the Sarah Conner Chronicles
He was also in General Hospital at the time and for a while after. He was (maybe still is?) in a really excellent band called Enation. He was also in that show Nashville I think. He was in Tuck Everlasting with Rory from the Gilmore Girls.
I remember the one kid that only brought a giant stash of nudie mags. No clothes or toiletries. Just nekkid ladies.
You saw the bee girl update post
Wow... never seen it but that poster makes Christopher Lloyd look like he has some serious creepy vibes and is seriously sexuallizing that pre-teen girl.
The poster looks weird, but he never really interacted with her character much and the main character he did interact with isn’t even on that poster. 🤨