The Shore Thing

Summary
Arthur and D.W. beg Dad to take them to Aqualand—the coolest water park ever! But Dad knows an even better place—Ocean Zone. The kids explore the ocean and find all kinds of cool sea stuff by the seashore.

Plot
In the introduction Arthur gives examples of getting something better than what you expected.

Tite Card: Arthur Swims

Arthur and D.W. want to go to an amusement park called Aqualand. Their dad instead promises to take them to Marine World which he used to visit as a boy.

Arthur tells his friends about how cool the park looked on his dad’s home videos. In the end, Buster, Binky and Sue Ellen come along with Arthur, D.W. and Mr. Read.

Mr. Read drives to an ordinary beach explaining that Marine World has been gone for years. He tells the kids to form groups and look for “Ocean Zone”.

Brain and Buster find crabs, sea hares, and other aquatic life forms in the tide pools.

The girls look for shells when D.W. is “attacked” by kelp. Sue Ellen meets Mr. Ratburn and sees a dolphin.

Arthur and Binky float to a rock in an inflatable chair. The chair floats away and the tide comes in, trapping them on the rock. Mr. Read rescues them using an air mattress. Then the kids use the mattress to surf on the tide.

In the evening they talk about their adventures and realize that the ocean zone is where they have been all day. They see a beautiful sundown with jumping dolphins.

Major

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Binky Barnes
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * The Brain
 * D.W. Read
 * David Read

Minor

 * Pal
 * Nigel Ratburn

Cameo

 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Mary Moo Cow
 * Jane Read
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat

Trivia

 * Sue Ellen mistaking Mr. Ratburn for a shark could be a reference to the show's intro.
 * Arthur's laugh is used from the "Buster Makes Sounds" title card.

Episode connections

 * D.W. gets scared of kelp tangling her foot, and thinks it's an octopus, similar to her getting scared of octopus in D.W. All Wet.
 * D.W.'s inflatable shark Sharky returns again from Arthur's Family Vacation.

Errors

 * When the sun goes down, David's skin briefly changes to the same color as Brain's.