6/2: Pigs is Pigs

[Al Lutz]

Kevin reviews DisneyWorld's latest Innoventions exhibit, More... Discuss it all here...

DIRECT ARTICLE LINK: MiceAge.com - A different look at Disney...

[Noski]

A few weeks ago they made fun of this on SNL. I hadn't heard of it, and they called it a "new attraction", so I thought they were making it up. But now I realise, with some regret, that they were serious...somewhat.

[KevinYee]

A very quick reader email pointed out to me why there is a wolf in the show: it's the 3 Little Piggies (Disney has a version) that's being referenced. And that makes a great deal of sense. That story is all about responsibility, which is what T. Rowe Price is going for. Interesting. Now I just have to get over not seeing the connection myself

[Pretzel]

I thought the reference to the wolf was the 3 little pigs story. The idea being that the third pig was the smart one who took the time to build his house so defend against the wolf blowing it down.

As far as what T. Rowe Price gets out of it - I think they get the same thing that Bank of America got out of their long sponsorship of It's A Small World - a warm fuzzy that tells people, hey, we're the Big Giant Company Who Cares. So maybe later when you have money, you'll think of us first.

I haven't been to Epcot in a while, but based on your description, the new exhibit sounds much like what used to be normal at Disneyland. Big companies imparting some basic lesson through a fun activity, with a very gentle and indirect plug for the company's general purpose.

[pose2pose]

Ha! I was flabbergasted that Kevin didn't get the 3 little pigs connection and that got me to break down and register for the discussion boards, but in the time it took me to register as a user, Kevin and Pretzel both posted a comment about it! HAHA--well, at least it's clear now, and now I'm free to comment in the future!

Thanks for the article!

[KevinYee]

Originally Posted by pose2pose

Ha! I was flabbergasted that Kevin didn't get the 3 little pigs connection ...

I can be quite dense sometimes. It was literally years and years before I understood that DisneySEA was meant as a geographical counterpoint to DisneyLAND in Tokyo. In the quest for the "deep," sometimes I miss the obvious.

[Mr. Yeti]

I thought this was a fun, nice little addition to Innoventions.

When all that is done, you take your pig to one final station for "weighing" to see how much money you saved and compounded. We made our target savings with a wide margin both times we played the game, but the nearby CM assured us that the game is possible to fail, and some people don't make the required money. For those who do, you are rewarded with an animation of your pig on vacation (or enjoying that bedroom waterslide), so it's not like winners receive something extra in a physical sense.

I chose to save for retirement, and I saved only half way towards my total goal. It invited me to continue the adventure online. I would imagine that, and maybe saving towards college, are more difficult than the fun bedroom or dream vacation.

Also, even though they don't give out a "prize", they have some stickers with the pig from the attraction on it to give away.

[sir clinksalot]

This looks pretty cool. Thanks for sharing Kevin.

[BassBone]

Can't wait to try this when I am back at Disney World in January!

[sediment]

Originally Posted by KevinYee

I can be quite dense sometimes. It was literally years and years before I understood that DisneySEA was meant as a geographical counterpoint to DisneyLAND in Tokyo. In the quest for the "deep," sometimes I miss the obvious.

That's OK. I just got that now!

[Mr Wiggins]

Originally Posted by Pretzel

As far as what T. Rowe Price gets out of it - I think they get the same thing that Bank of America got out of their long sponsorship of It's A Small World - a warm fuzzy that tells people, hey, we're the Big Giant Company Who Cares. So maybe later when you have money, you'll think of us first.

With apologies for the nitpick, the BofA that sponsored IASW was a very different company in structure, tradition and self-view than the corporate giant it later became. Although undeniably a banking institution, the BofA in 1966 actually still had echoes of its original hometown values lingering from decades earlier.

[Disneyland Limited]

We're given a choice: what would we like to save for? There's retirement, a perfect vacation, college, and a bedroom makeover (to include a waterslide right there on your bunkbed!) Wouldn't you know it, my six-year-old chose the waterslide bed on our first visit. It was the least practical (and plausible) of the options, but must have sounded like the coolest one to his mind.

They must not have saved enough money for the water. The picture just shows a slide. And really, what youngster wouldn't want that? It'd make getting out of bed in the morning that much more fun!