Great Piggy Bank Adventure Coming to EPCOT Center’s Innoventions

The one exhibit at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center that’s closest to the original spirit of the 1955 version Tomorrowland is Innoventions. In 1954 Walt Disney didn’t even start construction on Tomorrowland until 6 months were left until opening. So he had to make do with a lot of exhibits sponsored by corporations with an eye on tomorrow. Today Innoventions is the place where industry leaders can showcase their latest technological advancements that will bring us together into the future.

Disney just announced the next exhibit scheduled to open at Innoventions and it’s “The Great Piggy Bank Adventure” (now if that’s not a perfect Tie-in for the Muppets, I don’t know what is, but alas, no Muppets involved as far as I can tell). The topic at hand will be basic savings and investing concepts for families and the the importance of saving money responsibly.

Being responsible with our money is certainly a theme we can all stand to hear a little more of these days, but does it rise to the level of an Innovention? Perhaps the Bank of Main Street at Disneyland would have been a more appropriate place for this, but alas that’s being converted into a store. What do you think?

The full press release is below the cut:

T. Rowe Price, the global investment management organization, today announced that it has signed a sponsorship agreement to create an innovative financial education and entertainment experience at Epcot. Designed in collaboration with Walt Disney Imagineering, The Great Piggy Bank Adventure is scheduled to open this spring at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. This interactive exhibit will bring basic saving and investing concepts to life in a fun and captivating way. The experience will entertain and empower families, while encouraging them to engage in regular dialogue about the importance of saving and how to manage money responsibly.

The first-of-its-kind exhibit, in conjunction with a companion online game and associated web site, broadens T. Rowe Price’s longstanding investor education initiatives. The Great Piggy Bank Adventure will offer lessons on four key financial themes: setting goals, saving and spending smartly, staying ahead of inflation, and diversifying your investments. Discussions began over three years ago with Epcot Business Development and Walt Disney Imagineering to bring this experience to guests visiting INNOVENTIONS.

“Empowering parents to initiate discussion of the topics of saving and investing with their children is more important than ever before,” said Edward C. Bernard, vice chairman of T. Rowe Price Group. “Financial awareness and decision-making is heavily influenced by one’s early experiences, making vibrant family discussion a powerful and lifelong educational influence that can help children develop sound financial values and habits. In watching families during play-testing of the exhibit, it has been rewarding to see how The Great Piggy Bank Adventure engages families in a unique way and really does get the conversation started.

“T. Rowe Price has a long history of educating investors and helping people reach their financial goals,” Mr. Bernard added. “We can’t think of a better way to expand those efforts than by collaborating with an organization that is a true innovator in turning the ordinary into the extraordinary and whose name is synonymous with world-class family education, entertainment, and service excellence.”

Dan Cockerell, Vice President of Epcot, shared his excitement about working with T. Rowe Price to create this unique experience. “At INNOVENTIONS, our focus is on encouraging guests to imagine, invent, inquire and inspire while exploring amazing innovations that make our lives better. The Great Piggy Bank Adventure will give our visitors a better insight into what it means to save and invest in an innovative and engaging manner.”

Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Priceis a global investment management organization with $276.3 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2008. The organization provides a broad array of mutual funds, subadvisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries. The company also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. T. Rowe Price’s disciplined, risk-aware investment approach focuses on diversification, style consistency, and fundamental research. More information is available at www.troweprice.com.

INNOVENTIONS is located in the heart of Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Creativity and imagination abound as guests celebrate inspiration and the innovations that improve their lives and expand their horizons. Hands-on, interactive exhibits allow children and adults to be immersed into ideas that inform, entertain and inspire — conquer the most dangerous house in America, find solutions to “sticky” problems, experience the most cutting edge products at the “House of the Future,” protect the environment from the daily waste we create and push the limits of everyday products as we make the world a safer place. For more information on INNOVENTIONS, visit www.innoventions.disney.comis