A Troll in Christmasland (episode)

Plot

The special opens on Christmas Eve at the Bloomburgs' residence (presumably at least one year after "The Santa Experience"), where some carolers are singing outside, much to the confusion of Stanley and his friends. Eventually, Wilhelm and his parents show up, having rented a limo; they and the other families are going to Christmasland, a Yuletide-themed park that Dave has designed, located in front of Edith's company headquarters. Wilhelm approaches the Stanley, Hana, and the Kids, who explain that they're trying to think of something special to do for Rosie's Christmas. Being the brat he is, Wilhelm says that presents are the only things that make Christmas special, and Santa Claus, who they're going to see at Christmasland tonight, gives out the best ones.

Later, the kids' families all arrive at the Christmasland park. Wilhelm insists to the gang that he's going to see Santa first, believing that he's been good all year and deserves the best presents. He then further puts pressure on the gang by telling them that Rosie will never get to celebrate Christmas again if she doesn't get anything good this year. As Wilhelm goes looking for Santa Claus, Dave shows the other parents the control room and the security cameras monitoring all the pavilions in the park, including an animatronic Nutcracker show and a life-size Nativity display with a petting zoo. Dave also reveals that each pavilion has its own snow-making machine. The parents then head off to the artificial 19th century pioneer cabin, except for Grandpa Joe, who stays behind to watch the kids (and naturally falls asleep almost immediately).

Wilhelm spies one of the "elves", named Hermie, heading for the employee break room and figures that's where Santa is hiding. Making his cousins and their friends stay behind, Wilhelm barges into the break room and meets the man hired to play Santa, rattling off his Christmas wish list to him. The Santa actor, who's pretty reluctant to listen to his demands, gives him a plush reindeer toy. This does not please Wilhelm, whose ungrateful attitude only irritates the Santa actor further. Eventually, the actor grows so sick of Wilhelm's obnoxiousness that he throws the hat off and quits the job. The gang, seeing "Santa" quit, are devastated at this, with Gus believing now his little sister has no chance of getting to celebrate Christmas again. However, Olivia then points out that when "Santa" left, he didn't take his bag of toys with him, so perhaps their Christmas presents are still around. Wilhelm, listening in on the gang's conversation, figures that Santa's workshop must be around here as well, and figures that he can get the toys he wants there. He then tricks the gang into believing that the North Pole is in the opposite direction they were about to go, before going to the workshop himself, bringing along his reindeer plush, whom he names "Rudy".

Meanwhile, the Kids' parents are all listening to the animatronic pioneers singing in the cabin. But unbeknownst to them, one of the rubber bands in the control panel Dave designed (obviously having not learned his lesson from the giant monster king robot he built for EuroClassixLand) slips loose, causing the snow-making machines outside the cabin to unleash a blizzard's worth of snow, trapping the adults inside. The parents fret over the fact that they may be stuck inside this cabin for days and are separated from their kids, and Edith complains that she's missing her company's Christmas party because of this. However, Joe's wife Lucy tells them that they should try to make the best of this situation, and they start decorating the cabin interior for a Christmas party of their own.

The gang, in the meantime, do not get very far in trying to find Santa's workshop when Jake comes upon a giant walnut and they find themselves face-to-face with the giant animatronic Nutcracker. Thinking he doesn't look to happy to see them, the gang backs away, only to bump into the robotic Mouse King and his henchmice. Olivia charges into battle against the mice, with Jake trying to protect her, eventually knocking a jingly bell off of one of the mice in the process, while Rosie grabs the tail on one of the mice and gets herself pulled by said mouse. During this, AJ and Aly grab a shoe and a ribbon from the dancing cardboard ballerina. Eventually, the mice start firing cannonballs, so the Gang use a sled to slide down the hill (which, from their perspective, looks a lot steeper than it actually is) out of the Nutcracker area. As they slide downhill, they briefly cross paths with Wilhelm again, and Rosie snags a hat that he himself had gotten his hands on earlier.

Meanwhile, Joe wakes up from his nap and notices the kids have gone missing, though when he sees a cup of hot cocoa that Tommy left behind for him, he assumes that Lucy came back to get the kids. As he goes to catch up with the others, he then comes upon Hermey dealing with a line of impatient kids and their parents waiting to see Santa. Joe, seeing the problem, volunteers to play Santa for the kids himself.

Wilhelm, on his way to Santa's workshop, drives away some Christmas carolers with his off-key singing, and takes all the free cookies that some other carolers were giving out. He soon reaches the building that appears to be Santa's workshop, but the door is locked ("I hope the toys work better than these doors!"). He then breaks down the door and, from his perspective, sees a fully-fledged toy workshop. One of the elves, Hermey (who now appears to be a real elf) appears before him and asks what he's doing here. Wilhelm says he's here to get the presents he's expecting and claims that he's been good all year. Hermey, however, checks the nice list and says his name isn't on it, saying he shouldn't have scared off the carolers, taken the cookies, or lied to his friends. Wilhelm then sees that Rudy has seemingly turned into a real talking reindeer, who is feeling really hurt by how much Wilhelm insulted him earlier. Hermey and Rudy then take part in a musical number, telling Wilhelm that he should "treat each day like Christmas". This finally puts the true Christmas spirit in Wilhelm, and he promises to change his ways. He then sees that Hermey has suddenly disappeared (indicating that the previous sequence was all in his mind), but he takes his lesson to heart.

The gang, meanwhile, crash into a snowman after escaping the Nutcracker show. As they try to figure out if they're still going the right way, a lamb comes up to them, having wandered out of the petting zoo in the Bethlehem section of the park. Olivia and the twins figure that this lamb is lost, and they decide to bring him back to his home, thinking maybe he's a pet of Santa's. The gang bring the lamb to the petting zoo to reunite him with his family, and notice that this place doesn't look like the North Pole. The gang then walk into the nearby Nativity display and notice the baby Jesus in the manger. Feeling sorry for the baby, the gang each give him a gift - Jake, Olivia, Tommy, Mikey, and the twins all give him the respective things they picked up in the Nutcracker show, and Gus and Rosie give him the hat that Rosie got from Wilhelm earlier. This display of affection causes the Jesus figure, who previously had a neutral expression, to now have a smile on his face. Joe then drives up in in a horse-drawn sleigh to pick up the kids, having gotten word that they were heading towards the Bethlehem pavilion.

Joe then pulls up in front of the snowed-in cabin, hearing Lucy playing the piano inside, and starts digging the snow away. As he does, the gang lament the fact that they never did find Santa's presents for them, but Jake says they had a good time trying to find Santa's workshop anyway, and he's learned that maybe that's the kind of thing that makes Christmas special. Wilhelm then shows up with a bag of gifts that he found inside "Santa's workshop" and presents them to the kids, Stanley, and Hana - a new snow jacket for Jake, a flute for Olivia, a new pair of shoes for AJ, a magic princess wand for Aly, a new pair of gloves for Tommy, a Scorpion Man Action figure for Mikey, Chia Pets for Stanley and Hana and a toy camera for Gus (perhaps foreshadowing his future ambition for photography in All Grown Up!). He also gives Rudy to Rosie. Afterward, Joe brings the kids inside to reunite with their parents, who have come to enjoy the time they spent together in the cabin (with Edith admitting that she hadn't really wanted to go to her company's party anyway). The special ends on the families singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as the camera pans up into the sky to show the real Santa Claus flying in his sleigh.