I have received 100% confirmation that there is a new scene inside Epcot’s Spaceship Earth, which is currently down for refurbishment, that depicts a young, bearded man in jeans, sitting in a messy garage, working on an early prototype of the personal computer. That young man looks a whole lot like Apple founder Steve Jobs, who became Disney’s largest shareholder and a member of its board of directors when Disney purchased Pixar in 2006.

When Steve Jobs joined the Disney family last year, many web sites and blogs joked about having a Steve Jobs animatronic in an attraction. I’m not sure any of them actually thought it would happen… but it has. The new character in the ride may or may not be “officially” called Steve Jobs in the attraction’s new narration (provided by Dame Judi Dench), but it’s very obvious that it is. Though, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, did sport a similar hair style and beard back when the company was created. They’re both seen working in their garage in the photo below, taken circa 1975 (Jobs on the right, Wozniak on the left).

jobswoz.jpg

Spaceship Earth is officially set to reopen on February 18th, but rumors point to an early December soft opening. The focus of the refurbishment is to update the attraction to feature a stronger focus on how technology has evolved over the years. The invention of the personal computer is certainly a major milestone and it can’t be a surprise to anyone that Steve Jobs would be featured in the attraction as one of the pioneers in this field.

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