Gravity Falls (season 1) facts for kids

Two fraternal twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines, arrive at the remote town of Gravity Falls to spend their summer break with their great uncle Stan, but a mysterious journal hidden in the forest found by Dipper reveals the town's strange and uncanny secrets to the duo, and Dipper tries to save Mabel from her strange new boyfriend who appears to be a zombie, but is actually something much stranger.

Dipper, Mabel and Soos embark on a boating expedition to prove that a sea monster exists beneath, hoping to win a thousand dollars. Meanwhile, Stan, after being abandoned by Dipper and Mabel, tries to find fishing partners.

Guest stars: Conrad Vernon as Tate McGucket, Will Friedle as Reginald

Mabel sculpts a life-sized wax sculpture of Stan to add to his collection of wax museum figures, but when the wax figure's head goes missing, the twins are on the case.

Guest stars: John Oliver as Wax Sherlock Holmes, Larry King as Wax Larry King, Coolio as Wax Coolio, Greg Ellis as Wax William Shakespeare

Dipper and Mabel meet an intriguing new neighbor: a psychotic child fraud named Li'l Gideon. When Gideon begins obsessing over Mabel and tries to win her over, Dipper tries to stop him.

Dipper attempts to woo Wendy by lying about his age. Hanging out with Wendy and her friends, the kids end up in an old, abandoned shop that is seemingly haunted.

Guest stars: Ken Jenkins as Pa Duskerton, April Winchell as Ma Duskerton

When Dipper wants to become more "manly", he wanders into the forest on an epic quest and meets a strange species that teach him the ways of their masculinity. Meanwhile, Mabel tries to get Stan to impress Lazy Susan.

Guest star: Alfred Molina as The Multi-Bear

Stan throws a party at the Mystery Shack; while Dipper produces clones of himself to help him impress Wendy and Mabel faces off against her new rival Pacifica Northwest in a karaoke battle.

On the annual Pioneer Day at Gravity Falls, the kids discover that the town's founder was a fraud and a hoax, so they set out to expose the truth. However, when they do, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland go after them to stop the secret from being revealed.

Dipper's wish comes true when he steals a Time Traveler's time machine to undo a mistake and win Wendy over, while Mabel accompanies him to keep on winning her pig, Waddles, until when Dipper finally undoes his mistake, Mabel loses her pig to her nemesis, Pacifica Northwest. Elsewhere, Stan rigs a dunk tank to scam the town.

Guest star: Justin Roiland as Blendin Blandin

Dipper brings a video game character, Rumble McSkirmish, to life so he can fight Robbie, but when things go too far Dipper realises he needs to save Robbie. Meanwhile, Mabel tries to end Stan's fear of heights.

Guest star: Brian Bloom as Rumble McSkirmish

Feeling insecure that Mabel is becoming the alpha twin, Dipper seeks a magical crystal to grow taller. But when Gideon finds the crystal, he uses it to shrink the kids and tries to use it on Stan to take over the Mystery Shack.

The people of Gravity Falls love Halloween so much that they also celebrate it in summer, with jack-o'-melons and much trick-or-treating. Dipper and Mabel are excited to join in on the fun, but when Wendy casually mentions that trick-or-treating is for kids, Dipper's outlook on the evening changes. The night gets even more complicated when a monster that Dipper accidentally insulted makes them fulfill his candy quota by the night's end, or else he will eat them.

Guest star: Jeff Bennett as The Summerween Trickster

Mabel bets Grunkle Stan that she will make more money at the Mystery Shack by treating people nicely than he does by being rude and cranky. He heads off to win a fortune on a TV game show, while she deals with lazy employees and a real monster captured by Dipper.

As the kids, Stan and Soos fall into a seemingly bottomless pit, they tell each other stories to pass time.

Voice Over: Dipper takes a magical tonic to prevent his voice from ever cracking again.

Soos' Really Great Pinball Story: When Soos and the twins try to cheat at pinball, they find themselves trapped in the machine.

Trooth Ache: Mabel gives Grunkle Stan a set of truth-telling dentures to keep him from constantly lying.

Mabel befriends a cute merman trapped in the deep end of the public pool, and is determined to return him to his family in the ocean – even though that means her whirlwind of a romance will come to an end. Meanwhile, Dipper learns that Wendy is a lifeguard at the pool, so he decides that the best way to spend time with her is to volunteer. Elsewhere, it's all out war for the best lawn chair at the pool between Stan and Gideon.

Soos discovers a hidden room inside the Mystery Shack, and Dipper is happy to claim it as his own independent space, but there is one problem – Mabel wants the room too. They both compete for Stan's approval to win the room as part of a contest that gets even trickier when the siblings switch bodies due to the room's mysterious shag rug.

When Mabel discovers that her favorite boy band is actually a bunch of imprisoned clones, she sets them free, only to decide on keeping them for herself. Meanwhile, Dipper thinks that Robbie has brainwashed Wendy using a secret message hidden in the lyrics of one of his songs.

Guest star: Lance Bass as Sev'ral Timez

A prehistoric pterosaur snatches Waddles after Grunkle Stan throws him outside, and Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Soos and Old Man McGucket go after the beast in order to save Waddles, while also working out friendship issues between each other.

The kids and Soos travel through Grunkle Stan's mind to defeat an ancient demon named Bill Cipher, summoned by Gideon to retrieve the code to Stan's safe in a ploy to get the Mystery Shack.

Note: This is the first of a two-part season finale.

After Gideon swindles the Mystery Shack away from Stan, everything in Gravity Falls appears to be even more west of weird – Dipper, Mabel and Grunkle Stan are forced to move in with Soos and his grandmother, while the town remains enamored with Gideon's charm. Meanwhile, Grunkle Stan isn't certain he can take care of the twins, and is considering sending them back home. Thus, the kids get on a bus to leave Gravity Falls; but a giant robot with Gideon inside starts chasing after them because he thinks Dipper has Journal 1. However, the twins defeat Gideon and win back their home. Grunkle Stan exposes him as a fraud, which causes him to go to jail. At the end of the episode, Grunkle Stan has started the activating sequence for the portal in the shack basement after he collected all 3 journals.

Note: This is the second and last part of a two-part season finale.