The "Up Up and Buffet!" restaurant inside an airliner was based on a novelty restaurant in Los Angeles called "Dive!" which was shaped like a submarine. It was partially owned by Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg and was open from 1994 to 1999.
Matt Groening listed the episode as being his eighth favorite episode and the aroused cow is one of his all-time favorite act break jokes.
Marge and Homer in the golf course is a reference to I Married Marge (1991), although in that episode they are in a castle, rather than a windmill.
The church with a glass ceiling that has the sky visible is a reference to the Crystal Cathedral in California.