When the gang spot an ad for a carnival, they stop, expecting nothing but a spook-free afternoon of fun. Naturally, however, their luck holds. When they reach the carnival, the lone employee, owner Dick Van Dyke, tells them that hauntings at the carnival have driven away all the guests and workers.
This episode contains examples of the following:
- The Aloner: At the beginning, Dick Van Dyke is the only person at the carnival. He uses quick changes of costume to try to pretend that he still has multiple workers. It fails when he has an accident while posing as the strongman and pops the balloon "muscles" in the limbs of his suit.
- Balloonacy: The strongman sends Shaggy and Scooby high into the air using a bunch of carnival balloons and then begins using the sun and a mirror to pop them one by one.
- Balloon Belly: Dick Van Dyke uses an ice cream cart as an emergency landing pad after Shaggy and Scooby wind up falling from high in the air. When it's time to come out, Shaggy and Dick Van Dyke together can't pull Scooby out of the hole, leading Van Dyke to say (correctly) that he thinks Scooby gained weight. Shaggy tells him he needs to drop the weight and fast, or they'll cut him off Scooby Snacks. He immediately starts exercising. Dick Van Dyke then jokes that if Scooby ever lands in a cart full of pizzas, they'll never be able to get him out of it.
- Busman's Holiday: The Scooby gang goes to the carnival explicitly intending to have a relaxing afternoon free from the spooky stuff they regularly investigate. Of course, the carnival turns out to be haunted. Velma lampshades it when Shaggy and Scooby almost fall to their deaths, saying that the pair just wanted some fun.
- Chekhov's Gag: Dick Van Dyke offers to sell the carnival to the gang twice during the episode, given that he has been losing all his customers and suffering a variety of spooky things. It turns out that the culprit, Van Dyke's old strongman, wanted to drive everyone away so that Van Dyke would have to sell to him.
- Clueless Mystery: The culprit never appears or gets directly mentioned before the reveal.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Shaggy and Scooby fall after the balloons are popped, Dick Van Dyke pulls out a catcher's mitt, saying he played baseball in high school. Fred protests that he can't catch them with a catcher's mitt, and Dick realizes Fred is right; he used to play shortstop.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Shaggy and Scooby start plummeting when the ghostly strongman destroys the balloons that sent them aloft. As the rest of the gang laments that the two just wanted to do normal things like eat ice cream for an afternoon, Dick makes a dash for the ice-cream cart and uses it as a landing pad.
- No Honor Among Thieves: Non-villainous example. Shaggy and Scooby are unaware that the food on the stove they cook is being stolen by an unseen party. Shaggy, in surprise, accuses Scooby of stealing the food. Scooby, in turn, says that Shaggy must've taken it, and Shaggy defends himself by appealing to their sense of friendship.Shaggy: You really think I'd eat all those hamburgers, and hot dogs, and french fries, and onions, and...and you really think I'd eat all that stuff behind your back?
Scooby: Yeah.
Shaggy: Well...maybe I would. But I didn't. - Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Every one of Dick Van Dyke's employees has quit before the beginning of the episode.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Dick Van Dyke tries to sell a chance at a prize counter to a ghostly arm, which then throws every ball in the place at the targets (nearly hitting Van Dyke) and steals all the kewpie dolls. When Fred says that they need to track the ghost arm down, Van Dyke agrees, saying that the arm owes him twenty-seven dollars.
- When Shaggy and Scooby are trapped on a rollercoaster with the ghost, Dick Van Dyke is more concerned with the fact that the ghost doesn't have a ticket; only kids ride for nothing.
- When the ghostly strongman sends Shaggy and Scooby aloft with a bunch of balloons, Dick Van Dyke yells to them to advertise the carnival if they happen to drift over the city. After Fred incredulously asks him if he can think of anything besides the carnival, he adds that they should tell people to watch him on TV.
- "Test Your Strength" Game: A high striker appears at Dick Van Dyke's carnival. Neither Dick nor Shaggy can ring the bell, but the ghostly strongman does.
- Tunnel of Love: Scooby, Shaggy and Dick Van Dyke end up in the (currently spooky) Tunnel of Love during the mystery. Van Dyke explains it's intended to elicit romance; couples can go in holding hands and emerge affianced. Shaggy promptly tells Scooby to let go of his hand, saying that they're good friends, not a couple.
