The Rugrats hear that Reptar is supposed to be appearing in person at the Sleazola Bros. Fair, so they go looking for him there. But Reptar turns out to be more than just a mean green monster... He's a guy named Leo who loves to eat cereal.
Didi, Stu, and Grandpa Lou have taken Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Angelica to a carnival for the first time. Everybody is awed by the sights and sounds, but all is not well. The owner of the carnival is threatening a man in a Reptar suit because apparently he's been caught eating the miniature boxes of Reptar Cereal he's supposed to be handing out. If it happens again, he's fired.
Angelica sees a ride called the Nause-O-Whirl and demands to ride it. Didi tries to convince Angelica to go on a gentler (and more age appropriate) ride called Snail Adventure (where the kids look thoroughly bored). Angelica screams she wants to go on the Nause-O-Whirl, and Grandpa Lou advocates for her, in the hopes she’s able to conquer her fears. The ride turns out to be much more intense and frightening than Angelica imagined (despite its name, however, Angelica doesn't throw up).
After Angelica gets off, Stu spots a corny Tunnel of Love style ride and wants to go on it with Didi. Didi reluctantly agrees, and Grandpa Lou is left to watch the kids. Grandpa Lou takes them to a very slow ride called Sleepy Lagoon. Lou bribes the ride operator into letting them go around as many times as he wants. As soon as the ride gets started, he falls asleep.
The babies are very bored (as bored as the kids on Snail Adventure), so when they see the Reptar man again, they get off and approach him. Angelica gets a free sample of Reptar Cereal from him and demands more. The man refuses and tries to explain that the rest is for all the other kids, but Angelica doesn't care. She steals all the boxes she has and flees, with "Reptar" chasing after her.
Angelica goes through a door marked "Positively No Admittance", followed closely by the man in the Reptar suit. Now they're in the employee-only area of the Tunnel of Love. The man tries to retake the boxes, but when cornered, Angelica tosses them into the water and flees. Didi and Stu have been enjoying themselves on the ride, and just as they're about to kiss, they see "Reptar" in the water and are shocked.
Back outside, the group runs back to Sleepy Lagoon and gets back on the boat before Grandpa Lou wakes up. They disembark shortly afterwards and are joined by Didi and Stu. The Reptar Man tries to explain to his boss that Angelica stole all the cereal and tossed it in the water, but he's fired anyway. This infuriates "Reptar", causing him to go on a rampage through the carnival. The entire group witnesses "Reptar" being cornered by many employees as he attacks a model Empire State Building at the carnival's miniature golf course. Didi has come to a decision that the carnival is not an ideal place for kids.
Trivia[]
It is shown that Didi has a strong fear of clowns.
Leo returns to play Reptar in "Reptar on Ice", however, his voice and design is different.
In this episode, it's Didi who's scared of clowns, rather than Chuckie (he's smiling while the clown comes up and startles Didi).
This is the fourth time we see Tommy wearing shoes.
This is one of the few episodes to show romantic moments between couples, including Stu and Didi during their ride on a swan boat.
Steve is in the credits, but he isn't in this episode.
The credits likely meant to say Larry, who was the operator of the Nause-O-Whirl.
Morals:
Don't take your kids to places that are scary or dangerous to them.
Never take anything from strangers.
Don't accept rides and ride in cars with strangers.
Trust your instincts. If you see something, then you should say something.
If you're working as a character in a mascot costume to hand out samples to kids and want any of the same food samples handed out, go out to your local store and buy your own when you're off duty.
Goofs[]
Curiously, Chuckie doesn't appear to be afraid of clowns in this episode, even though he is in all the others. (Explanation: Studies have suggested that phobias are caused by seeing someone else react with fear to the same thing. Therefore, Didi's reaction possibly contributed to Chuckie's fear of clowns).
Chuckie, however, did seem scared of clowns (or, at least Tommy's clown lamp) in an earlier episode.
Tommy pickles in his usual shirt and diaper.
Tommy is seen in next scene in his outfit that he wore for the rest of the episode.
In one shot, Tommy was in his shirt and diaper, but in the next, he was back in his normal outfit for the episode.
