In this episode, many references to the Disney movie Pete's Dragon (1977) can be found.
- A lighthouse keeper named Nora loses her lover to a storm at sea, and continues watching for him from her lighthouse.
- Her son is named Elliot, her husband named Merle and their last name is McQuoddy.
- At one point, two characters seek refuge in a cave by the sea.
- At one point a vocal group comes to the lighthouse and sings Candle on the Water, a song from Pete's Dragon.
- Also, the show has always been narrated by Jim Dale, who starred as Doc Terminus in Pete's Dragon.
When Willie Gerkin introduces himself, Olive tells him "You lost your smile, pickle!" A gherkin is a type of pickle.
Complaining about his problems with the lighthouse, Willie Gerkin says "This is SO not the way "The Secret" is supposed to work!" 'The Secret' is a self-help book by Rhonda Byrne that concentrates in part on the way positive thinking is supposedly meant to bring wealth into one's life, just like the windfall in Gerkin's life that the lighthouse represents.
Olive buys raincoats with pictures on them that correspond with each person. Ned gets pie slices on it because he's the Piemaker, Emerson gets fish because his last name is Cod, and Olive gets the coat with olives on it.