Line #138 Main/NotWhereTheyThought


1	->''"We're not on the moon! We're in the Hundred Acre Wood!"''
2	-->-- '''Rabbit''', ''WesternAnimation/MyFriendsTiggerAndPooh''
3
4	A character looks around them and sees that things are a little different, then concludes that they're somewhere else. Or perhaps, something happened (such as an explosion or stepping through what they thought was a portal) that they believe moved them but it didn't. Or maybe they ''did'' go somewhere, but they're mistaken as to where. This character is Not Where They Thought.
5
6	Commonly, they think they're in a very strange place, such as the moon or another dimension. Their reason for thinking so is usually because they tried to go there and didn't realise they failed. Common for children, who are naive enough to both attempt to go somewhere in a way that wouldn't actually work and believe they succeeded in getting there when they didn't.
7
8	However, they may also think they're in a perfectly normal place, such as New York or Paris, and made the mistake because they accidentally got onto the wrong vehicle (see MissedTheBus) or otherwise goofed up. TheDitz and the character with NoSenseOfDirection are especially prone to goofing up like this.
9
10	Usually PlayedForLaughs. MistakenForAfterlife, EarthAllAlong, MistakenForImprisonment, and ThisIsntHeaven are subtropes. Compare BaitAndSwitchTimeSkip and FakedRipVanWinkle for when a character is Not ''When'' They Thought, and TomatoInTheMirror for when they're Not ''Who'' They Thought. Can lead to MistakenForAliens, YouCantGoHomeAgain, and MistakenNationality. Compare WhereDoYouThinkYouAre for when someone knows where they are but has a misconception about the place. Sometimes played for CringeComedy if they turn out to be somewhere embarrassing such as the wrong bathroom (which could be the result of a WhichRestroomDilemma but not necessarily) or a shower room, or RightOnQueue if they end up at the wrong line. Can lead to a NotInKansasAnymore remark or result from someone taking a WrongTurnAtAlbuquerque or if they FailedASpotCheck, were GoingInCircles, or are in an UnnaturallyLoopingLocation.
11
12	----
13	!!Examples:
14
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder: Advertising]]
18	* A commercial for an opticians' brand in the UK had a man walking into what he thinks is a sauna's steamroom only to find himself undressed in one of [[Creator/GordonRamsay Gordon Ramsay's]] kitchens when the steam cleared.
19	[[/folder]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* ''Manga/ChiosSchoolRoad'': In "Thank You, George", Chio dashes into the first bathroom she sees, suffering from a PottyEmergency. After she finally relieves herself, she leaves the stall [[OhCrap and sees urinals, meaning that she's unknowingly gone into the men's room]].
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Audio Plays]]
26	* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho:'' "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho153TheSilverTurk The Silver Turk]]" has Grahm, an early Cyberman from Mondas who crash landed on 19th century Earth, get just a little freaked out, since he thinks he's back home and wonders just what's happened to the sky.
27
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Comic Books]]
31	* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': In one comic, Mr. Weatherbee is yelling at Archie and his friends for supposedly loitering in the school hallways. Archie informs him that they're actually at the mall. Mr. Weatherbee [[ComicallyMissingThePoint misses the point]] and tells them not to be late for class.
32	* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers:'' During the Roy Thomas run, a slight mix-up involving interdimensional travel results in Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, the Vision and Clint Barton winding up on what looks like plain old Earth, save for the fact no-one recognises them. It's only when they get to Avengers Mansion and find an entirely ''different'' bunch of superheroes there they realize they've wound up on an alternate Earth; Earth-712, rather than their 616.
33	* One ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'' story has a disoriented Hal crash land on a planet which his damaged ring is unable to identify. He has no battery, no idea where he is, and enough power left to send three messages. After that, his ring will be out of charge, and he'll find out whether the local atmosphere will kill him. Hal sends his last goodbyes to the Corps, [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Bruce]], and Carol, the ring runs out of power, and... he finds himself breathing normal air, because he's a few miles away from Las Vegas. It takes a while before the rest of the League stops laughing.
34	* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'': At the start of "What Would Possibly Happen If... Cletus Went to College?" from Simpsons Comics #51, it is mentioned that Cletus [[NoodleIncident has mistaken a photo booth for an outhouse twice]].
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
38	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/02/05 this strip]], Calvin appears to be in his house as usual and he notes that there's a door that wasn't there before. A puppet version of his mother comes out holding a bowl of oatmeal, [[OhCrap which gets him to realize he's not at home]]. He looks out the window and sees that it's just a fake house that two aliens have put him in. This turns out to be AllJustADream.
39	-->'''Calvin:''' Oh no! That's not our yard outside! It's... it's a ''cage''! '''Aaaughh!''' I'm trapped in a lab and they're trying to get me to imprint on my own species before they return me to the wild!\
40	'''Alien scientist 1:''' ''[holding the puppet]'' He's on to us, Wayne.\
41	'''Alien scientist 2:''' ''[giving an {{aside glance}}]'' There goes our funding.
42	* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': In one strip, an alien is telling off another for getting not only the wrong planet but the wrong solar system.
43	* At one point in ''ComicStrip/{{Mutts}}'', Earl and Mooch are blown over the garden fence into the watchdog's yard. [[CloudCuckoolander Mooch]] is certain that they've ended up in Mexico, despite the watchdog angrily trying to tell him otherwise.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Fan Works]]
47	* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Baron Leopold and crew, due to a moved hero gate endpoint, think they're in Ami's dungeon, and start disparaging it, when it's actually [[spoiler:Baron Leopold's attic]].
48	* ''Fanfic/JuniorOfficers'': In the chapter "The Queensland Lungfish", Kingsley the titular Queensland lungfish is found in the Boyne River. Barnacles informs him of where he actually is and Kingsley reveals that he thought he was in the Herbert River up until now.
49	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12790230/1/Lay-me-down Lay Me Down]]'', Ned Flanders accidentally walks into an adult bookstore, thinking it to be a regular bookstore.
50	* Discussed in ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'', where Ebony pretends that the reason she was in Slughorn's (or, as she calls him, Slutborn's) office was that she "[[BlatantLies thought it was class]]". He ''believes it''.
51	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/480932/pinkies-potty-problem Pinkie's Potty Problem]]''[[note]]a.k.a. "Potty Panic Pinkie"[[/note]], Pinkie [[PottyEmergency desperately needs to pee]] and dashes into Sunset's house. Sunset starts to tell her that the bathroom is past her room, but before she can even finish, Pinkie runs into Sunset's closet, mistaking ''that'' for the bathroom ([[OhCrap much to Sunset's horror]]). Weirdly enough, though, a toilet is heard flushing from inside the closet.
52	* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNDUthcHpjo this]] ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet 2'' fan animation, a guy named Ray is having a serious PottyEmergency and unknowingly rushes into the girls' bathroom. This ends up jumpstarting the plot for the rest of the video, as now he has to sneak out without getting caught (and get some toilet paper).
53	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfiction ''[[https://theloudhouse.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:DPSII/Unfunny_Business Unfunny Business]]'', Leni [[RunningAwayToCry runs off in tears]] after Luan [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbally destroys her]] and bursts into Lynn and Lucy's room, briefly mistaking it for her own room. She then runs into the bathroom and sobs there for a bit until Lori tells her that this also isn't her room.
54	* ''Fanfic/WhatYouWishFor'': Lori wakes up after [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech chewing Lincoln out for accidentally destroying her expensive perfume]]. When Lincoln doesn't show up for dinner, she thinks he's avoiding her because he's angry with her, but then she learns that Lincoln isn't her brother because she's in an [[ItsAWonderfulPlot alternate universe where he's Carol's brother.]] (The reason it qualifies is that she thought she was at home) [[spoiler:At the end, this is revealed to be AllJustADream.]]
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
58	* ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar1'': When the Central Park Zoo animals are shipwrecked on Madagascar, they initially believe they're in San Diego. They are eventually straightened out by King Julien.
59	* ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'': Sulley enters Mike's room [[EnterStageWindow through the window]] with Archie the Scare Pig. Mike asks him what he's doing here, and it dawns on to Sulley that this isn't his room after all. This is also sort of a misdirection for the audience before the movie came out in theaters as they were led to believe that Sulley was Mike's roommate in college, but the movie shows that this wasn't so.
60	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': Jack tells Lock, Shock, and Barrel to go through the door leading to Christmastown so they can catch Santa Claus. They come back with the EasterBunny, having gone through the door leading to Easter by mistake.
61	* ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'': The penguins surface from the sewers and believe they're in Dublin, Ireland when they're actually in Shanghai. After deducting that [[BigBad Dave's]] next target of penguins to kidnap were in Shanghai, they decide to pack themselves in a box and mail themselves there. They don't even notice that they were dropped off at the exact spot they were picked up from.
62	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Soul}}'': When Joe falls off the conveyor belt leading to the Great Beyond after he's fallen to his death in a manhole, he ends up in the Great Before[[note]]Otherwise known as the You Seminar[[/note]]. He briefly mistakes it for heaven and hell, but one of the Jerrys tells him where he actually is.
63	-->'''Joe:''' Uh, hey, uh, is this heaven?\
64	'''Jerry:''' ''[chuckles]'' No.\
65	'''Joe:''' ...Is it [[CensorshipBySpelling H-E-double hockey sticks]]?\
66	'''Young souls:''' [[EuphemismBuster Hell, hell, hell hell, hell!]]
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
70	* ''Film/NineteenNinetyFourBakerStreetSherlockHolmesReturns'' has the brilliant detective get thawed from a HumanPopsicle in the 20th century. He meets Doctor Amy Winslow and is flown to San Francisco. While motoring along a California highway, Holmes forgets that Americans drive on the right side, and ends up a victim of road rage. Holmes phones Winslow, claiming that he's back in London. Actually, he was at Lake Havasu and didn't know London Bridge had been reconstructed there.
71	* ''Film/AbbottAndCostelloGoToMars'': Done twice.
72	** First, the boys land in New Orleans instead of Mars, but mistake it for another planet because it's Mardi Gras and everyone else is wearing bizarre costumes. They don't find out otherwise until the thieves Harry and Mugsy, who are in the process of hijacking their rocket, inform them otherwise.
73	** Second, after landing on Venus, Orville initially thinks they're in Los Angeles, due to the lack of visibility. He's soon corrected by the local Venusians.
74	* ''Film/DumbAndDumber:'' Lloyd gets distracted while driving and takes the wrong exit at a highway interchange, and winds up thinking he and Harry are in Colorado when they're actually driving through Kansas. They look at the completely flat plains surrounding them and wonder why the Rocky Mountains aren't ''rockier'', before realizing the mistake.
75	* The plot of the ''Film/TheIronyOfFate'' kicks off when Zhenya, drunk to the point of unconsciousness, is put on a plane from Moscow to Leningrad by his equally drunk friends (one of them had in fact planned to go to Leningrad that night). By coincidence, there is an apartment with the same address as Zhenya's in Leningrad, so, as he has slept through the flight and doesn't remember it, it takes him quite a while to learn he isn't at home anymore.
76	* The stranded humans of ''Film/{{Predators}}'' initially assume they've been dumped off in a jungle on Earth until they emerge into a clear area and get a look at the AlienSky.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Jokes]]
80	* A man is asked to play music at a funeral, and he finds a place with a crowd and some dug-up ground, assumes that's the place, and plays music so sad that EverybodyCries. As it turns out though, he'd gotten the wrong address and they'd actually been putting a [[MoodWhiplash septic tank]] in.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Literature]]
84	* In ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'', Alice thinks the rabbit hole leads [[DiggingToChina to New Zealand or Australia]].
85	* ''Literature/{{Arthur}}'': In "Arthur's Eyes", Arthur goes into the girls' bathroom [[BlindWithoutEm after ditching his glasses]] and is initially confused as to why Francine is in there until she screams at him to [[GetOut get the heck out]] because this is the women's room.
86	* ''Literature/{{Corduroy}}'': In the first book, Corduroy mistakes a room full of beds at the mall for a palace.
87	* At the end of ''Cuzzies Find the Rainbow's End'', the two cousins get taken to an amusement park called Rainbow's End (which is a real amusement park in Auckland) and think it's literally the magical realm at the end of the rainbow.
88	* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'':
89	** In "Rodrick Rules", Greg remembers accidentally walking into the women's bathroom at a retirement centre thinking it to be the men's bathroom, and being [[AccidentalPervert mistaken]] for a DirtyKid.
90	** In "Wrecking Ball", the Heffleys go to what they think is their Aunt Reba's funeral. Greg is wondering why no one looks familiar. When they all go to the gravesite, they see that the grave belongs to someone named Robert Law, meaning that they had been at the wrong funeral all along.
91	** In "The Long Haul", Greg tries to catch his family's car right before it goes through the tollbooth. He bursts into what appears to be their car, but [[FailedASpotCheck he fails to notice that there's no boat attached to it]] and quickly finds out that there's a woman and her daughters in there. Cue screaming from both daughters.
92	* In a ''Literature/DirtyBertie'' story, Bertie, Darren, and Eugene try to carry a sleeping Nick into Trevor and Warren's dormitory, but they accidentally wind up in Miss Boot's dormitory instead.
93	* In ''Dougal the Garbage Dump Bear'', when Bumble first arrives at the dump, he [[DownplayedTrope half-jokingly]] wonders if he's on Mars.
94	* ''Dragon'': At the beginning of ''Dragon Gets By'', Dragon (in a fit of ExhaustionInducedIdiocy) looks into a closet, thinking it's his front door. The inside of the closet is dark, and thinking that he's outside and that it's still night, he goes back to bed.
95	* In the ''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps'' gamebook "Tick Tock, You're Dead", the [[NoNameGiven nameless]] protagonist thinks they are on a plane at one point when really they're on a spaceship.
96	* Cold War black comedy ''Literature/HulloRussiaGoodbyeEngland'' by Creator/DerekRobinson is set in an RAF squadron responsible for delivering Britain's nuclear deterrent. The Vulcan nuclear bomber crews receive the best possible training, which includes long periods spent in a flight simulator where crews are trained to deal with every possible thing that can go wrong on a flight. The squadron's Intelligence Officer is taken on a simulated mission, lasting hours, which reproduces a bombing run over Russia where every possible hazard is thrown at them. The simulation is so real that the IO has a complete breakdown and his nerve fails - despite never leaving the airbase.
97	* ''Literature/LittleBear'': In "Little Bear Goes to the Moon", Little Bear jumps from a tree in an attempt to get to the moon, and believes he's landed on the moon. When he sees Mother Bear, she humours him, but by then he's realised his mistake and tells her to "stop fooling".
98	* Invoked in ''Ringing Wet'' by Creator/PaulJennings, in which [[BigBrotherBully Simon]] tricks his sister Misty into going into a ride called the Rotor, thinking she's just in the audience.
99	* ''Literature/SamPig'': Invoked in one story, where Sam wants to ride Sally the horse to York like a character in his favourite book does, so Sally takes him to a nearby field and lies that it's York.
100	* In one of the ''Literature/{{Treehouse}}'' books, Andy, Terry, Alice, Albert, and Alice and Albert's baby sister all end up in a different dimension [[BiggerOnTheInside in a closet]]. One of them wonders if they're all in [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]], but everyone else agrees that the place is just too bananas to be Narnia, so they end up nicknaming the world "Banarnia".
101	* In ''What an Absent-Minded Guy'' by Samuil Marshak, the eponymous character's absentmindedness culminates in him getting into a detached train car. He goes to sleep and, when he wakes up, believes himself to have traveled and doesn't believe it when people tell him he's still at the same train station as before.
102	* ''Literature/WinnieThePooh'':
103	** In "In Which Eeyore [[BirthdayEpisode Has a Birthday]] and Gets Two Presents", Piglet falls over and bursts the balloon he's meaning to give to Eeyore. He doesn't realise that the noise was the balloon popping and thinks he's blown up and been transported to the moon.
104	** In "In Which a Search is Organdized [sic] and Piglet Nearly Meets the Heffalump Again", Pooh and Piglet fall into a pit and think it's a trap dug by a Heffalump. It isn't, and neither is it the pit they dug back in "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump"-- it's a separate pit called the Gravel Pit.
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
108	* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', a man replaces the Stephenses' lawn with astroturf because he thinks he's at the house it was meant for (162). The Stephenses' address is 192, but [[SixIsNine the nine had fallen upside down]]. This causes an argument ending with Darren being ExiledToTheCouch because he thinks Samantha is the one who changed the grass.
109	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
110	** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E1TheThreeDoctors The Three Doctors]]", UNIT headquarters gets teleported into the Anti-Matter dimension. For some reason, the Brigadier thinks they are in Cromer, a coastal town in Norfolk. The Cromer reference would become a ContinuityNod[=/=]BrickJoke decades later in "[[Recap/DoctorWho2017CSTwiceUponATime Twice Upon a Time]]".
111	** In "The Time Warrior", Sarah Jane ends up in Medieval times when she gets into the TARDIS moments before the Doctor sets off after a scientist who has been kidnapped and transported back in time. At first, she thinks she's still in the 20th Century and all the people she encounters are wearing costumes, though she does comment that what she believes to be a restored Medieval castle is "overdoing the sordid realism".
112	* One episode of ''Series/FatherTed'' had Father Jack walk into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting after misreading the sign outside the building.
113	* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': "The Gang Hits the Road." After a daylong struggle to get on the road to the Grand Canyon, the Gang allows a young hitchhiker to drive Dee's car so they can get drunk and pass out in the U-Haul. The next morning they realize they've stopped, and get out at what they think is the canyon... and realize the hitchhiker stole the car and stranded them right in front of Paddy's Pub where they started.
114	* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode "They Call The Wind Korea", Klinger and Major Winchester get hopelessly lost on the way to Seoul trying to catch Winchester's flight. They get caught in a massive windstorm that also knocked over a Greek troop truck. After spending the night out in the elements, Winchester orders Klinger to scout out the area. Klinger, grumbling, does so -- to find out that they were stranded no more than 200 yards from the 4077th the whole time.
115	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': The episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S2E18TheLightBrigade The Light Brigade]]" sees the crew of a human military spacecraft on an urgent mission to deliver a DoomsdayDevice to an alien homeworld -- the last hope of humanity to win a war that they've been on the losing side of for some time. During the final legs of the mission, they come under attack by the aliens, and everyone on the crew is killed or knocked unconscious. It turns out the one of the crew is a [[TheMole a traitor]] who is attempting to sabotage the mission and has managed to expose everyone onboard to fatal radiation poisoning that will kill them soon, making it vital that they complete the mission ASAP. The crew is stalked and killed one by one by the "traitor", who turns out to be an alien disguised as the commanding officer, Major Skokes. A cadet, the SoleSurvivor, finally manages to kill Skokes and deliver the ship to its destination. As intruders try to breach the ship, the Cadet launches the bomb just in the nick of time...only to find out that [[spoiler:he just launched the bomb ''at Earth''. While everyone was unconscious, "Skokes" turned the ship around, and [[CruelTwistEnding the Cadet can only watch in horror as the bomb falls toward Earth.]]]]
116	* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
117	** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIParallelUniverse Parallel Universe]]", Holly invents a method of getting the ship back to Earth. After trying it, Holly claims that they've gotten back to Earth, but the Earth is missing. The crew later finds that they haven't ended up where the Earth should be, but rather in a parallel universe where everyone's the opposite gender.
118	** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIIBackwards Backwards]]", Lister and the Cat think that they're in their universe, in Bulgaria, near a place known as Nodnol. It turns out that they're near London in a universe where time goes backwards.
119	** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVMeltdown Meltdown]]", Lister assumes that he and the Cat have time travelled and ended up in Nazi Germany. They are in fact on a planet populated by waxdroids, in their own time.
120	* ''Series/SesameStreet'': A RunningGag in the "Monster Clubhouse" skits is a man mistaking the Monster Clubhouse for a different clubhouse.
121	* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E17Solitudes Solitudes]]", O'Neill and Carter believe that the Stargate malfunctioned and sent them to a deserted ice planet. It turns out that the wormhole jumped to the previously unknown second Earth Stargate, inside a glacier in Antarctica.
122	* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
123	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E08LittleGreenMen Little Green Men]]", Quark, Rom, Nog, and Odo are [[AccidentalTimeTravel accidentally sent back in time]]. They also think they've landed in Australia, when really they've landed in America. They end up [[RoswellThatEndsWell causing the Roswell Incident]].
124	** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E18Inquisition Inquisition]]": Julian Bashir is fingered as a Dominion spy and transported to a Cardassian warship, where Weyoun welcomes his ManchurianAgent "home", only for the ship to be attacked and Bashir recaptured by the ''Defiant''. However, [[SpottingTheThread Bashir realizes that Miles O'Brien is not in pain from an injury Bashir treated him for at the start of the episode]], and realizes something else is going on. [[spoiler:The bridge vanishes to become a Federation ship's holodeck where he has probably been since he went to sleep the previous night, and the whole mole hunt was a ruse by the Federation's NoSuchAgency Section 31 to be certain of Bashir's loyalty before they attempted to recruit him.]]
125	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
126	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone The Neutral Zone]]", three people from the late 20th century, who had been [[HumanPopsicle frozen in stasis]], are woken up on the ''Enterprise'' four hundred or so years later. When they hear they're on a "ship", they think it's a boat, but it's a spaceship.
127	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E8FutureImperfect Future Imperfect]]", after passing out on an away mission, Riker wakes up on the ''Enterprise'' with the medical staff claiming he's now the captain, having suffered LaserGuidedAmnesia of the sixteen years that have passed since the mission. Riker eventually [[SpottingTheThread realizes]] [[FakedRipVanWinkle he's been tricked]]: the ''Enterprise'' turns out to be a holodeck illusion created by his Romulan captors. [[spoiler:The Romulan captivity ''itself'' turns out to be a holodeck illusion cast by a lonely alien child, whom Riker takes back to the ''Enterprise''.]]
128	** Invoked in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E11ShipInABottle Ship in a Bottle]]" when [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Moriarty]] tricks the ''Enterprise'' crew into thinking they're in engineering when they're actually still on the holodeck. He also assumes he's on a boat when it's actually a spaceship.
129	** Zigzagged in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E19FrameOfMind Frame of Mind]]", when it's unclear whether Riker is on the ''Enterprise'' and [[CuckooNest hallucinating that he's in an asylum]] or the other way round until the very end.
130	** Invoked in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E12Homeward Homeward]]" when Worf's adoptive brother Nikolai kidnaps some aliens and transports them to another planet (due to their homeworld being doomed) but uses the holodeck to make them think they're still on the same planet and travelling by foot to [[LoopholeAbuse skirt]] the Prime Directive.
131	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
132	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E8PersistenceOfVision Persistence of Vision]]", everyone except the EMH starts to hallucinate. At one point, Janeway thinks she's still in her quarters when she's really been taken to sickbay.
133	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E5NonSequitur Non Sequitur]]", Harry initially thinks he may be on the holodeck when he wakes up in an alternate reality.
134	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E3TheChute The Chute]]", Tom and Harry have been tossed into a prison that looks like a cave. Everyone believes that the prison is underground, but it turns out that it's actually in a hollowed-out asteroid.
135	** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E10ConcerningFlight Concerning Flight]]", a holographic Creator/LeonardoDaVinci is sent to another planet but thinks it's America.
136	* PlayedForDrama and tragedy in ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E15IShotAnArrowIntoTheAir I Shot an Arrow into the Air]]". A manned space flight crashlands on what the crew believe to be an unknown asteroid. One of the astronauts, desperate to survive, kills the others and takes all their water. ''Then'' he learns that they've been on EarthAllAlong -- specifically, the UsefulNotes/{{Nevada}} desert, just outside Reno. Cue VillainousBreakdown.
137	* ''Series/TheUpsideDownShow'': In every episode, David and Shane try to find some kind of destination, but they go to several wrong rooms first and initially mistake those for their destination until someone corrects them.
138	[[/folder]]
139
140	[[folder:Web Animation]]
141	* ''WebAnimation/HowItShouldHaveEnded'': At the end of "How ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' Should Have Ended", [[Franchise/MonstersInc Sulley]] bursts into Andy's dorm room, startling him. Sulley then realizes he's in the wrong room, apologizes, and leaves.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Web Original]]
145	* Discussed in the ''Website/AsexualityArchive'' article "The Great Chicago Conspiracy", which notes that denying the existence of asexuality because you once thought you were asexual but were wrong is like saying, "I once thought I was in Chicago but I was wrong -- I was really in New York all along. Therefore, there's no such place as Chicago."
146	* ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'':
147	** In "[[https://notalwaysright.com/not-so-donuts-about-burgers/ Not So (Do)Nuts About Burgers]]", a customer walks into a burger place, mistaking it for a donut store. [[FailedASpotCheck They fail to notice the pictures of burgers until the OP points them out to them.]]
148	** In [[https://notalwaysright.com/had-no-doubt-she-was-in-the-wrong-place/80968/ "Had No Doubt She Was in the Wrong Place"]], a woman goes to a clothing store to buy a Music/NoDoubt vinyl record, mistaking the place for Hot Topic ([[FailedASpotCheck despite the fact that she'd been looking into the windows for fifteen minutes]]). The OP then informs her that Hot Topic is to the door to the left.
149	** In [[https://notalwaysright.com/right-place-wrong-menu/72998/ "Right Place, Wrong Menu"]], a man goes to [=McDonald's=] and asks for popcorn chicken, mashed potatoes, and drumsticks, only for the OP to tell him that they don't have any of those there. The man asks if this is [=McDonald's=], the OP says it is, and the man leaves, indicating that he didn't intend to come here.
150	* ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'': In "How Will I Clean My Fur?", Steven makes two of these mistakes. First he thinks he's at home when really he's in someone else's apartment, then he thinks he's in the wrong story due to seeing a Franchise/{{Pokemon}} center (and the story is meant to be a CrackFic of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''), but really he's in the right one.
151	[[/folder]]
152
153	[[folder:Web Videos]]
154	* ''WebVideo/MuppetViralVideos'': At the beginning of "Food Fight", several Muppets are [[PottyEmergency lined up for what they think is the line for a bathroom]], but it's actually a line for the food trucks.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder:Western Animation]]
158	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} (1993)'' episode "Meatballs or Consequences?", TheGrimReaper takes the Warner siblings to a dimension where he will officially make them dead if they lose a board game. Dot wonders if the place is Ohio.
159	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Arthur's Eyes", Arthur ([[BlindWithoutEm who is not wearing his glasses]]) accidentally wanders into the women's room, mistaking it for the boys' bathroom. Francine and Muffy both freak out when they see him [[FromBadToWorse and then more girls come in]].
160	-->'''Arthur, Muffy, and Francine:''' ''[in unison]'' What are ''you'' doing here?!
161	* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': The end of the episode "Free Churro" reveals that [=BoJack=] spent the entire episode giving [[spoiler:his mother's eulogy]] at [[spoiler:somebody else's funeral]]. He doesn't even realize this until he opens [[spoiler:the casket]].
162	-->"Is this Funeral Parlor B?"
163	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Clarence}}'': In "Field Trippin'", when Clarence comes back from the gas station, he mistakenly enters the bus to West Aberdale Elementary instead of Aberdale Elementary. He realizes that he's on the wrong bus when he sees a kid he doesn't recognize in one of the seats.
164	* ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'': In "To Do Or Not to Do", the dragons, Emmy, and Max wander inside a dragonoceros's mouth, mistaking it for the inside of a cave. They realize their mistake once they meet a firefly named Glimmer, who tells them where they really are.
165	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS17E9PawtucketPete Pawtucket Pete]]", Peter gives a moving eulogy for his deceased boss Angela. At the end of his speech, it's revealed that the funeral is full of Asians and it dawns on to Peter that he was actually at the wrong funeral the whole time. He then awkwardly excuses himself and leaves.
166	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E19TheCryonicWoman The Cryonic Woman]]", not only do Fry and Morgan think they've gone a millennium forward in time when they haven't, they also think they're still in New New York (or [[AfterTheEnd what's left of it]]), when actually they're in LA.
167	* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': At the start of "Billy and Mandy Save Christmas", a [[PottyEmergency very frantic Billy]] is in a long line. He assumes it's the line to the men's room, but a kid in front of him informs him that it's the line to see SantaClaus.
168	* ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvaniaTheSeries'': In "Exit Sandman", the Sandman has put everyone to sleep. In the dream world, Hank [[PottyEmergency has to pee]]. Later, the gang finds Diane chilling in a jacuzzi. Hank whispers to Pedro that he thought the jacuzzi was a bathroom, implying that he [[PuttingThePeeInPool relieved himself in there.]]
169	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Invincible\|2021}}'': PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/Invincible2021S01E02HereGoesNothing Here Goes Nothing]]" when Allen the Alien shows up to Earth and fights Mark. He was sent on behalf of the Coalition of Planets to evaluate the defenses of a planet called "Urath", but it isn't until he has a brief conservation with Mark that Mark informs him he's at the wrong planet[[note]]In his defense, not only does "Urath" sound fairly similar to Earth, the planets have similarly shaped continents [[/note]]. Making it even funnier is that it's implied he's been coming to Earth for years (and fighting Mark's father, Nolan/Omni-Man every time) and never once realized his mistake.
170	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
171	** The 1950 cartoon "Big House Bunny" has Bugs Bunny bamboozle prison guard Sam Schultz into becoming a convict. Bugs later gives Sam a loaf of bread with a zipper on top: it's actually a satchel full of digging tools and a map. Sam tunnels his way out of his cell and emerges in a lush jungle (or so he thinks). Parting the leaves, he hears the warden yell at him, because Sam was actually amid a cluster of potted plants in the warden's office. Sam gets bawled out fiercely for this.
172	** Pretty much any cartoon where Bugs takes the WrongTurnAtAlbuquerque. In some cartoons, it takes him a little while to figure out he's not where he was going.
173	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':
174	** In the episode "Schooled!", [[TheDitz Leni]] accidentally gets on the wrong bus and attends preschool instead of high school. When she gets there, she still thinks she's in high school, and even when she realises the truth, she [[OneOfTheKids goes back there so she can bounce on the trampoline]].
175	** In "One of the Boys", Lincoln initially thinks the interdimensional portal didn't work and he's still at home, but then he realises that he's in a dimension where his sisters are now boys. At the end of the episode, he thinks he's gone home, but then he turns out to be in another dimension, where ''everyone'' has swapped genders including himself. Luckily, however, it turns out to be AllJustADream.
176	** In "Tripped!", the Louds miss their bus and unknowingly enter a prison bus. Lynn Sr. and Rita [[OhCrap realize what kind of bus it is]] after they find a pair of handcuffs.
177	* In a ''WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks'' episode, Martha, [[DreamEpisode during her dream]], thinks she's in the Boxwoods' living room, but really she's been sucked into a digital photo of their living room.
178	* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyB'': In one episode, titled "Body Rockers", Bessie and Penny believe they have been [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrunk down]] and [[FantasticVoyagePlot entered somebody's body]]. In reality, they've accidentally stumbled into a giant, mechanical exhibit meant to teach people about the human body.
179	* Happens frequently in ''WesternAnimation/MrMagoo'', due to the title character's [[BlindMistake bad eyesight]]:
180	** In "Thin-Skinned Divers", Mr. Magoo thinks he's gone to a dance school when really it's a gymnasium. He even [[DramaticIrony notes to himself that it seems a lot like a gymnasium]].
181	** In "WesternAnimation/WhenMagooFlew", Mr. Magoo boards a plane thinking it to be a movie theatre.
182	** In another episode, Mr. Magoo thinks he's at a fishing zone when really he's at a game preserve because he misread "Game preserve- no fishing" as "Reserve for fishing".
183	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyFriendsTiggerAndPooh'', the Super Sleuths and Eeyore try to go to the moon but they fail. However, when Tigger jumps higher than usual and Eeyore feels happier than usual, they think they've actually landed on the moon.
184	* ''WesternAnimation/NinaNeedsToGo'': In "Beach", Nina and her mother accidentally go into the shower room, thinking it to be the toilets.
185	* ''WesternAnimation/PatAndStan'': In the short "Peeing 2", Stan is [[PottyEmergency desperately waiting outside of what he thinks is the bathroom door]]. Pat comes by and fixes the door, so Stan runs in. ''That's'' when Pat reveals that it was actually their closet door.
186	-->'''Pat:''' That's funny. Why is he going in the closet? The bathroom's right here.
187	* ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'': Whenever [[TheDitz Traveling Travis]] appears in an episode, he'll usually mistake the place he's in for someplace else. Some examples include mistaking the jungle for the North Pole in "Pups Save a Wrong Way Explorer" and mistaking Antarctica for Mars in "Pups Save an Antarctic Martian".
188	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': In one episode, the penguins try to land on the moon, but end up on a rooftop instead. They still think they're on the moon, and refer to a cat they meet as "Moon Cat".
189	* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In "Sunday Drive", Jet, Celery, and Carrot go to a desert and mistake it for Mars. They get suspicious once they see a lizard and plants in the area, and Jet realizes it's Earth when he notices that the air is still breathable.
190	* In the ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' episode "Happy Birthday, Calvin!", Calvin from ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' gets sent to an asylum but thinks it's Mars, due to [[AmbiguousStartOfDarkness either]] having been born AxCrazy or because his pills and shock therapy drove him insane.
191	* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': In "Popcorn Pandemonium", Rocko and Heffer run into what they think is one of the cinemas while the lights are off. They sit down and Heffer says his seat is wet. A guy walks in and turns on the lights, revealing that Rocko and Heffer have unknowingly entered the men's restroom and [[ToiletHumor are sitting in urinals]].
192	* ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991'':
193	** In "[[Recap/RugratsS2E4ShowdownAtTeeterTotterGulchMirrorland Mirrorland]]", the babies bump into a mirror and land behind it, thinking they've gone through it and landed in a DarkWorld.
194	** In one episode, "[[Recap/RugratsS8E6TheFunWayDayTheAgeOfAquarium The Age of Aquarium]]", the babies go to an aquarium, but they think they're on a leaky boat instead.
195	** In "[[Recap/RugratsS2E22TheSlideTheBigFlush The Big Flush]]", the babies go to a swimming pool but [[ToiletHumour mistake it for a giant toilet.]] They go in search of the flusher, because [[FunWithFlushing they think it'd be fun to flush a giant toilet.]]
196	** In "[[Recap/RugratsS1E13GrahamCanyonStuMakersElves Graham Canyon]]", Angelica and Tommy wander into a garage, mistaking it for the Grand Canyon.
197	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "[[Recap/SouthParkS7E11CasaBonita Casa Bonita]]", Cartman convinces Butters that the apocalypse is happening so he can lock Butters in a bomb shelter and prevent him from attending Kyle's birthday party. When police begin searching bomb shelters for the missing Butters, Cartman blindfolds Butters to lock him in an old refrigerator instead, which gets picked up by a garbage truck and taken to the city dump. When Butters emerges from the refrigerator, he [[MistakenForApocalypse mistakes the city dump as a post-apocalyptic]] Earth with himself as the sole survivor.
198	* ''WesternAnimation/SpecialAgentOso'': In "Potty Royale", Aiden says he has to use the bathroom, so Oso tries to look for the bathroom. Oso briefly mistakes a broom closet and a bedroom for the bathroom, but Aiden (who actually knows where the bathroom is) finds it before him.
199	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
200	** In "Sandy's Rocket", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick mess around with the rocket and assume they've landed on the moon when in actuality they never left Bikini Bottom. This causes them to think all of their neighbors and friends are actually aliens, and they proceed to catch every other citizen of Bikini Bottom in their traps.
201	** In "[=SpongeBob=], Sandy, and the Worm", Sandy thinks she's in a cave when really she's in a worm's mouth.
202	** In "Plankton Gets the Boot", Plankton decides to stay with [=SpongeBob=] (though he mostly goes with him because [[PottyEmergency he has to pee really badly]]). After they get home, Plankton comes out of a door, thanking [=SpongeBob=] for letting him use his bathroom, but [=SpongeBob=] informs him that it ''wasn't'' his bathroom. Plankton then tells him that he should probably get new shoes, implying that he relieved himself in [=SpongeBob=]'s closet.
203	** In "The Inmates of Summer", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick accidentally go to a prison camp, but they mistakenly think it's a summer camp.
204	** In "Rock Bottom", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick ride on a bus, thinking it's the bus to take them home. Actually, they've entered the wrong bus, and it ends up taking them to the eponymous Rock Bottom.
205	* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'':
206	** In "Gruel and Unusual Punishment", Baloo decides to visit a weight loss clinic so [[DietEpisode he can lose enough weight]] to escort Rebecca to the Pilot's Ball in a slimming tuxedo. However, [[ReadTheMapUpsideDown due to having mistaken a guacamole stain on the map for the location]], he ends up in [[PrisonEpisode a Thembrian prison]], which he mistakes for the weight loss clinic.
207	** Invoked in "A Jolly Molly Christmas"; Baloo gets Louie to disguise his nightclub as Santa's workshop, himself as Santa Claus, and his employees as Santa's elves to trick Molly into thinking she's at the North Pole. For a while, this works, but once Louie's customers end up exposing his ruse, Molly runs out of the club crying.
208	* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'': In "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS1E65HighToon High Toon]]", Buster and Babs are on their way to the [=ACMELand=] amusement park, when Beaky Buzzard [[SneezeOfDoom sneezes]] and [[RoadSignReversal switches the signs to ACMELand and Prairie Junction around]]. When the two rabbits arrive at Prairie Junction, they think that it's the Wild West World section of the park and that a robbery from the Coyote Gang is a stage show.
209	* ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'': A RunningGag is one character (dubbed [[MrExposition Exposition Guy]]) running to wherever Becky happens to be and screaming about the newest crime taking place. He then asks, "Is this the police station?" and runs elsewhere once the characters inform him that it's not. This cues Becky to transform into [=WordGirl=].
210	[[/folder]]
211
212	[[folder:Real Life]]
213	* The reason why Native Americans used to be known as "Indians" is that an Italian explorer named Christopher Columbus arrived in America (which European people didn't know existed at the time) and thought it was India.
214	* There was one case of some people taking children to stay in a city district, and they expected the children to find the place too dreary, but instead they clapped and cheered because they thought the adults had taken them to Series/SesameStreet.
215	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NotWhereTheyThought