Theme Park Scope

I have a confession. I have never wanted to board an airplane that is not going anywhere so badly in my entire life.

Walt Disney’s private Grumman Gulfstream I, nicknamed Mickey Mouse One, is opening its restored interior to the general public for the first time. Until now, only D23 members have had the chance to step inside, and that was at special events. Starting this month, anyone can buy a ticket to a guided tour at the Palm Springs Air Museum, where the plane now lives.

The museum is hosting five exclusive interior tour evenings, each one with a limited number of guests. Each experience runs about two hours and includes a guided tour of the restored cabin, light refreshments, and a featured keynote presentation from a speaker connected to the aircraft or the Walt Disney Company. Each event also has its own limited-edition T-shirt for sale. Tickets are listed at $65 for general admission and $50 for Palm Springs Air Museum members, with kids 12 and under free with a paid adult. Check the museum’s website for current pricing and availability, because attendance is limited and these are the kind of events that can sell out.

Here are the dates and speakers, all on Saturdays:

October 17, 2026, features Mark Malone, along with Ed Ovalle of the Walt Disney Archives. Mark is the son of Chuck Malone, Walt’s personal pilot. He went along on the plane’s very first pilot training flight in 1964, when he was only nine years old, flew regularly on Mickey Mouse One for the next 25 years, and became its captain for Walt Disney Productions from 1979 until 1985.

January 16, 2027 features Becky Cline, Director of the Walt Disney Archives, who joined the company in 1989 and helped develop D23: The Official Disney Fan Club.

February 20, 2027 features a member of the Walt Disney Archives team.

March 6, 2027 features Bob Gurr, the Disney Legend and Imagineer who was part of the original Disneyland design team and created ride systems like the Disneyland Monorail and the Autopia cars.

April 3, 2027 features another member of the Walt Disney Archives team.

If you cannot make a tour evening, there is still a way to see a piece of the plane. The museum has a Walt Disney Archives display of Walt’s personal artifacts from the aircraft, open during regular museum hours and included with museum admission, and free for museum members. The museum also sells limited-edition plane tags taken from the aircraft during the interior restoration, with proceeds going to the restoration and upkeep of the plane.

Now, the part I find the most fascinating: what the plane actually is. Mickey Mouse One, also called The Mouse, was a working tool for Walt in the 1960s. According to the museum, he used it to travel quickly and privately with Imagineers, designers, and staff, so they could discuss confidential ideas for films, theme park attractions, and future projects in the air. It was, essentially, a studio in the sky. The museum says one of its most significant contributions was its connection to Pirates of the Caribbean. In 1964, Walt flew from Palm Springs to Puerto Rico to scout inspiration for the attraction, and the Castillo de San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan helped shape the look of the Disneyland ride that opened in 1967. The plane is also widely associated with the scouting trips that eventually led to Walt Disney World, which makes this an especially nice story as the resort marks its 55th anniversary this year.

The interior details are a treat. The cabin has a galley kitchen, two restrooms, lounge-style couches, and a desk workspace, plus custom stationery and matchbooks decorated with subtle Mickey Mouse imagery. The museum lists the plane as carrying up to 13 passengers at about 350 miles per hour, with a range of roughly 2,540 miles, and says it flew 277,282 miles and carried about 83,000 passengers over 20,000 hours of service.

The plane’s life after Walt is a story of its own. It kept serving the company, appeared in Disney films, and later supported goodwill tours and hospital visits. It was retired in 1992 and displayed at what is now Disney’s Hollywood Studios until 2016. Then, in 2022, it arrived at the Palm Springs Air Museum on long-term loan from the Walt Disney Company, where the museum has been restoring the interior to look the way it did during Walt’s lifetime. If you read our recent coverage of the Magic Kingdom opening day attractions that are still running, you already know how rare it is for something from that era to survive intact, and this plane is another one of those quiet miracles.

If you are anywhere near Southern California, I think this is one of the most special Disney history experiences in a long time. The museum is at 745 North Gene Autry Trail in Palm Springs, and it is open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM.

We will keep an eye out for any additional tour dates, so check back with Theme Park Scope for more Disney history worth traveling for.