We see Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck during the song "On the Open Road," and Mickey sings the line "Californ-eye-ay or bust." In a Freeze-Frame Bonus Mickey can be seen in the crowd during the Powerline concert. Mickey and Donald were simply hitch hiking to get to the concert.
Also why Goofy didn't stop for his friends (assuming they're friends of his in this continuity and Max's reference to Donald being Goofy's friend wasn't just a sarcastic crack): He knew they were going to LA, and thus assumed he wasn't going their way.
It seems a bit odd at first that the version of "Stand Out" that Max dances to in the first act seamlessly skips over parts from the version that comes on the movie soundtrack. But then, plenty of pop musicians release one version of a song on their album and a shortened version for the single, usually cutting the intro and sometimes the middle of the song. Max was dancing to the single version, and we get the album version! This also means PJ must have picked up the full album, since he's caught dancing to the second verse that the single version skips over.
The two nerds in Star Trek uniforms. The lankier one with black hair is wearing a blue shirt, while the more rounded one with brown hair is wearing a gold one. Kirk and Spock?◊
Roxanne appears to be slightly off-model in the introductory Dream Sequence, which makes perfect sense when you consider that this is Max's idealized dream-version of the girl he's in love with. It makes sense that a 14-year-old boy would picture the object of his affections as more sexualized than they actually are.
The song title I2I has two meanings. The first is the phonetic "Eye to Eye", reminiscent of the saying "looking through my eyes" and finally seeing each other as equals. The second is a bit more literal "I2I". A common way to refer to yourself is by saying "I" and "I" is sometimes written as a simple line. What else is written as a simple line? The Roman numeral I and what do you get when you add 1 and 1?
Meta: Characters from the "Out on the Open Road" song keep reappearing throughout the rest of the movie, making it look like they're either following Goofy and Max on their vacation, or everyone is just going to the Powerline concert. Likely the animators were just saving money and extra work in using characters that were already finished than making up dozens of extras for so many brief shots.
Doubles as "Fridge Heartwarming": one of the many subtle changes to Goofy's character to make him work in a feature film is have him be really good at his job as a baby photographer, which works from both a practical and emotional standpoint: not only would it be harder for the audience to empathize with Goofy or believe that he could support both himself and his son if he continued to be a bumbling idiot and only managed to hold onto his job by sheer dumb luck, but since he is a single father, it's safe to assume the family doesn't have much income. He has to be good at his job for Max's sake.
At the end of the first song ‘After today’ the teenage girl who punched Max on the shoulder is seen almost snogging her boyfriend. During Principle Mazur’s speech the latter tries to ask out Roxanne for Stacy’s party much to Max’s horror who sees this from behind the curtains of the school stage, however it is implied Roxanne turned him down as she has a secret crush on Max. After school ends for the summer the teenage girl tries to flirt with Max but is stopped by Stacy as he is Roxanne’s date. Later after Max disappointed Roxanne by not being able to go as her date to the party, Roxanne claims she can find another guy, implying to be the same guy who tried asking her out. If one puts two and two together the teenage girl and her boyfriend have either broken up or more likely trying to make each other jealous.
While Goofy was already disappointed with Max for the map, there is a much deeper reason for why he outright explodes at Max while at the Grand Canyon: Max not only failed the Secret Test of Character, but he had the nerve to try and weasel his way out of Goofy's anger with small talk. Earlier, Pete insinuated that Max didn't respect Goofy at all. Max's disrespectful behavior in the car probably struck a serious nerve with Goofy, and made the poor guy believe if only for a moment, that Pete might have it right.
Goofy works as a photographer at a K Mart (as seen by their famous blue light special that highlights the plot relevant fishing bobblehead). Since the 1970s, K Mart was famously known for their "Goof Proof Guarantee," which offered full refunds on any printed photos you didn't like. It's the only job Goofy can safely work (and likely hold down), due to its Goof Proofing.
If you want to consider the Goofy movies being in the same canon as Goof Troop, the absence of Peg and Pistol seems to imply that during that time, one of the following happened:
Pete got divorced, and PJ got separated from his mom and sister. Pretty dark, guys. What's even worse is that if this explanation is true, someone, somewhere, decided that Pete was fit to have custody of PJ. This suggests shenanigans, general incompetence, or something even worse, such as Peg or PJ not caring if he ended up there.
Or Peg just died. However, since Pete says he won't have to care for any children anymore when PJ leaves for college, if Peg died, chances are Pistol probably did too.
Another explanation: we just don't get a look into Pete's own family life, what with the story being focused on Goofy and Max's relationship. The fact Pete now works as a child photographer alongside Goofy does imply he lost his car dealership, however.
An even more boring explanation could be that those characters simply weren't very popular (at least not as popular as the male characters), and this is only a loose spinoff of Goof Troop, so it might just be a case of the filmmakers not really caring whether or not they're there.
The Extremely Goofy Movie complicates this since we see the trio celebrating leaving for college, and we would naturally expect to see Peg and Pistol there. Given the lack of emphasis on such a matter, it could be a divorce.
It's entirely possible that Peg divorced Pete and has custody of Pistol. Since PJ is a teenager, he may have been given a choice of who to live with. This actually makes things worse, since that means PJ stayed with Pete because he was too afraid to pick his mother over his father, possibly in fear of some form of retribution.
What seems most likely is that Peg divorced Pete and then PJ chose to stay with Pete specifically so that he could continue to live near Max, hisrealfamily. In some ways, this makes it more heartwarming, especially when one considers how well it turns out for PJ in the end with Beret Girl in An Extremely Goofy Movie.
In the jacuzzi scene, after Goofy says "I trust my son... he loves me", Pete replies "My son respects me." Think about the implications of that.
There's also some Fridge Brilliance to this scene, given how Goofy straight up told Pete he doesn't believe him over Max changing the map, and how Goofy looks at him incredulously when Pete said his son "respects him". Far as Goofy's concerned, even if he thought Pete was telling the truth, nothing Max did would make him stoop to Pete's level.
PJ leaving the principal's office with a borderline Thousand-Yard Stare muttering "my dad's gonna squash me like a bug". At first glance, it just sounds like he's doing the usual exaggerating kids do, but then you see the aforementioned implications surrounding Pete's character and start wondering...
As much of a happy movie as it was, we find ourselves wondering about the scene where Max makes his big navigator choice. Would Goofy have really driven them right into the median if Max hadn't chosen a direction?
He's Goofy. What do you think?
We never see if the security guard at the concert survived crashing into the screen.
Both Max and Bobby have girlfriends by the end of the movie, it’s implied. Usually people in relationships stop hanging out as much with their single friends. There is a single friend with a horrible home life and no ability to make new friends on his own, who is probably being ignored. Poor, poor PJ.
Hey, PJ got a happier ending and a hot girlfriend in the sequel. Everything's alright.
When Max skateboards, he is seen taking a fork from a baby. Said baby was just about to insert the fork into an electric socket before Max intervened.
In the final verse of 'On the Open Road' a vehicle has an upper-class man in the trunk, bound and with Cement Shoes on.
After his Rage Breaking Point with Max, how would Goofy have proceeded had it not been for the incident with the car? Would he have just punished Max, or would he have become as nasty as Pete?
Early production notes for Goof Troop suggest Goofy could have accidentally killed his wife by asking her to step backwards while taking her picture at the Grand Canyon. If this is canon, then the Grand Canyon scenes would be a lot worse for Goofy and Max.
What is the point in having a theme park worker dress as a possum was in a World of Funny Animals? It makes you wonder whether having another animal dress as a possum in a world where anthropomorphic possums presumably exist would be similar to having a white man go in blackface.
Since Max's neighbors all seem to be dogs, does that mean animals are segregated in this world?
Given that Ducktales reboot is canon to the series and it shows different species of animal people living together, we could say that Spoonerville is this world equivalent of town with highest percentage of Black population, only replacing African Americans with dogs of any races (given that despite being different species, animals in this world have the same nationalities as humans in real life). However that doesn't mean the possibility that citizens of Spoonerville are racist against non-dogs (or at least staring at other anthropomorphic animals similar to how many white people tend to stare at Black people, despite not having any racist thoughts), given the only anthropomorphic animals living in Spoonerville that aren't dogs are Pete and his family (and even then, they look more like dogs than cats, Peg and Pistol especially).
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