Arthur notes that D.W. is a contrarian, who claims that the family never takes her where she wants to be. The Reads take a family vacation to Washington, DC, much to D.W.'s disinterest and to Arthur's delight.
Tropes for this episode include:
- All Girls Like Ponies: D.W. wants to go to Ponyland and has to be convinced to go to Washington.D.W.: Since I made such a sacrifice, maybe you’ll buy me a pony.
David: No.
D.W.: I could keep it in my room.
David: No.
D.W.: I wouldn’t ride it in the house.
David: No! - Don't Explain the Joke: When Arthur suggests Washington for vacation, David replies that it's a "capital" idea. Because it's the nation's capital. While no one laughs, Arthur quickly says that he gets the joke.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Jane preemptively shuts down Arthur's request to go to a Bionic Bunny theme park for a family vacation. For this reason, she and David stand firm that no, the family is not going to Ponyland for this trip, though D.W. can choose the next vacation spot.
- Karma Houdini: D.W. acts extremely bratty and ungrateful for their entire trip to Washington, bringing up how much she'd rather be at Ponyland. As the family tours the White House, she runs off into off limit areas, causing the White House security team to search for her after her parents report her missing. When she ends up meeting the president, he loves her and her parents (and White House security) completely forget about all the frustration they just dealt with and the fact she breached security of the White House, since it means they all now get to eat dinner with the President.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Reads when D.W. walks off during their tour of the White House.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The President is a clear stand-in for Bill Clinton.
- Nostalgia Filter: Despite that "Santa's Igloo" turned out to be a tourist trap where you have to give "Santa" a sundae, D.W. saw the event through rose-tinted glasses and figures that nothing would top meeting "Santa Claus".
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Rather, political-culture osmosis failure. Since D.W. doesn't pay attention to politics, she doesn't recognize the President when he sees that she is lost.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Arthur rightly tells off D.W. for trying to sneak past the warning signs about forbidden areas, knowing she's just being a brat. He says that those areas are closed off for a reason, and to follow the rules. Fortunately, the President is nice when he sees a four-year-old lost in a forbidden area, and escorts her back to her family with no mention of her breaking the rules, and even shows her some portraits with horses in them. He then invites the Reads to dinner to make up for the interruption, treating them to pizza.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Arthur thinks the President will know that he won a spelling bee and played a piano solo. Naturally, when Arthur does tell him about these accomplishments, the President gives a polite compliment.
- Spy Speak: A Secret Service agent does this once D.W. is returned to the Reads, but the other agents don't get it.Agent 1: Bundle recovered. Ducks in a row, peas in a pod.Agent 2: What?Agent 1: We found D.W.Agent 2: Who lost a duck?
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: D.W. floats the idea of Ponyland after seeing the ad on television. Arthur and Pal immediately go "bleh", while Arthur reminds his parents what happened the last time they went to a place that D.W. saw. That was "Santa's Igloo", which ended up being a suburban tourist trap where "Santa" demanded a sundae from visitors. Ironically enough, D.W. enjoyed herself and says Ponyland may not be as good as that.
Mr. Haney gives Arthur an envelope for his mother, and he becomes anxious as to its contents. His friends give suggestions on how to "get rid of it" but conclude that not giving it would land him in worse trouble.
Tropes for this episode include:
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The envelope contains Mr. Haney's tax documents for Jane to complete. Even if Arthur didn't need to know this, Mr. Haney could have at least assured him that he wasn't in trouble. Jane also tells Arthur that even if it had been something about him, she needs to know because as his parent, it's her job to worry about him and she won't be mad.
- Crashing Dreams: Arthur's nightmare about the envelope growing until it bursts out of the house and towers over the city ends with DW popping out of the envelope and asking, "Didn't you tell Mom yet?" Arthur immediately wakes up to find DW at the end of his bed, saying, "I said, didn't you tell Mom yet?"
- Exact Words: Arthur decides that Mr. Haney told him the envelope was for Jane, but he wasn't told to give it to her. So he leaves it out hoping she won't notice it. While it works, his guilty conscience catches up to him and Arthur gives Jane the envelope.
- Irony: Jane is distracted while making dinner because "Herb" hasn't turned in important tax documents. If she had listened to D.W. pointing out the envelope, she would have gotten them a few hours sooner.
- Jerkass Has a Point: D.W. is only waiting for Jane to receive the envelope to see how much trouble Arthur gets into, rather than ensuring her mother receives an important document. Arthur acknowledges, however, that Jane needs to know about it.
- Not Now, Kiddo: D.W. tries to loudly tattle to Jane about the envelope and that "Arthur is in trouuuuble." Jane dismisses her because D.W. tattles all the time and mistakenly assumes that this is just another one of their sibling feuds. Besides which, she has important phone calls to make about her client "Herb".
- Rule of Three: Arthur twice gives Pal his food bowl without any dog food in it. The third time, he absentmindedly leaves it on the counter while pondering his dilemma. Jane notices, including Pal growling, and finally gives him dinner.
- Shout-Out: Arthur imagines summer school in a similar way to the tornado scene in The Wizard of Oz.
- Summer School Sucks: This episode has Arthur take home an envelope from Mr. Haney to give to his mother. While wondering what it is, Francine suggests Arthur has to go to summer school. This prompts a Wizard of Oz-style Imagine Spot in which Arthur is essentially locked inside the school.
- What You Are in the Dark: After Arthur leaves out the envelope and Jane accidentally tosses it in the trash, he thinks that he's in the clear and can keep D.W.'s mouth shut. Then he has a nightmare about the envelope growing and trashing the house, not helped by D.W. waking him. Arthur decides to give Jane the envelope because he'd rather know what it is than have the guilt plaguing him. He's relieved to find out that Mr. Haney was using him as a courier for important tax documents.
