For the first time, the public can step inside Walt Disney's restored airplane
The Palm Springs Air Museum opens five evening tours of the newly restored interior of Walt Disney's Grumman Gulfstream I, 'The Mouse,' with the first on October 17.
PALM SPRINGS: For the first time, the public can step inside Walt Disney's personal airplane. The Palm Springs Air Museum has announced five exclusive Grumman G-1 Interior Tour Experiences, evening events offering a guided look at the newly restored cabin of the Grumman Gulfstream I that Walt Disney flew as a flying studio in the 1960s. Previously, only D23 members had been invited inside.
Each two-hour evening includes the interior tour, light refreshments and a keynote presentation from speakers connected to the aircraft and the Walt Disney Company. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $65 for general admission and $50 for museum members, and children 12 and under are admitted free with a paid adult. Tickets are available through the museum's website, and attendance is limited.
The dates and the storytellers
The first evening is Saturday, October 17, 2026, with Mark Malone and Ed Ovalle. Malone is the son of Chuck Malone, Walt's personal pilot, and later flew the Gulfstream himself as captain for Walt Disney Productions from 1979 to 1985; he is also the historical consultant to the aircraft's restoration. Ovalle is the archives manager at the Walt Disney Archives.
For the first time, anyone can tour the restored cabin of the plane Walt Disney flew as a studio in the sky.
The remaining evenings follow on Saturdays: January 16, 2027 with Walt Disney Archives director Rebecca Cline; February 20, 2027 and April 3, 2027 with Walt Disney Archives team members; and March 6, 2027 with Bob Gurr, the Disney Legend and Imagineer who worked on the Disneyland Monorail and Autopia. Each event also features its own limited-edition T-shirt available that evening.
"The Mouse" and the desert
The aircraft, nicknamed "Mickey Mouse One" or "The Mouse," was acquired by Walt Disney Productions in 1963 and served the company for nearly three decades, flying an estimated 83,000 passengers. The cabin was designed with creative input from Walt and Lillian Disney, and the museum lists its features as a galley kitchen, two restrooms, lounge-style couches, a desk workspace, and custom stationery and matchbooks adorned with subtle Mickey Mouse imagery.
The plane has a direct link to the desert: in 1964, Disney flew from Palm Springs to Puerto Rico to scout settings that shaped Pirates of the Caribbean. The Castillo de San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan helped inspire the look of the Disneyland attraction, which opened in 1967. Since 2022, the aircraft has been on long-term loan to the Palm Springs Air Museum from the Walt Disney Company, and the museum is restoring the interior to resemble how it looked during Disney's lifetime.
The Palm Springs Air Museum sits at 745 N. Gene Autry Trail and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The five tour evenings are scheduled across October and the winter months, a rare chance for Disney and aviation fans alike to stand inside a piece of entertainment history.
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