Disney restored Walt's Mickey Mouse One Gulfstream private jet that was left to rot in Florida's heat and humidity – take a closer look at the vintage plane

Brady MacDonaldOct 14, 2022, 20:11 IST

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplane will debut at its new home at the Palm Springs Air Museum on Oct. 15.Walt Disney Archives

Walt Disney used the private jet to scout Disney World – then codenamed Project X.
The company flagship was affectionately known as Walt's Plane and The Mouse.

The Walt Disney Company has reverentially restored the mothballed and neglected historic exterior of its famed founder's beloved Mickey Mouse One Gulfstream jet that was abandoned to rot in the Florida heat and humidity of a field in Disney World.

American film producer and studio executive Walt Disney (1901 - 1966) stands with a group of boys and others as they wait for a parade on Main Street USA at Disneyland, Anaheim, California, August 1962.Photo by Tom Nebbia/Corbis via Getty Images

The Walt Disney Company has reverentially restored the mothballed and neglected historic exterior of its famed founder's beloved Mickey Mouse One Gulfstream jet that was abandoned to rot in the Florida heat and humidity of a field in Disney World.

Walt Disney's Grumman Gulfstream I airplane will debut at its new home at the Palm Springs Air Museum on Saturday, October 15.

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

The company flagship refurbished by Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney Archives was affectionately known throughout its storied history as Walt's Plane and The Mouse.

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

The company flagship refurbished by Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney Archives was affectionately known throughout its storied history as Walt's Plane and The Mouse.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek unveiled the restored Mickey Mouse One in its "full original glory" as the centerpiece of the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplane will debut at its new home at the Palm Springs Air Museum on Oct. 15.Brady MacDonald/Insider

"This little beauty has been basking in the Florida sun for about the last 40 years," Chapek said at the D23 Expo.

Bob Chapek at D23 Expo 2017 in Anaheim, California.Image Group LA/Disney via Getty Images

From his cabin window, Disney surveyed the scrub-filled Central Florida swamps in the 1960s that would become Walt Disney World – then known by the code name Project X.

Walt Disney's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

From his cabin window, Disney surveyed the scrub-filled Central Florida swamps in the 1960s that would become Walt Disney World – then known by the code name Project X.

“Walt made several trips to Florida to look at the property and fly his Imagineers back and forth,” Walt Disney Archives Director Becky Cline said. “It wasn't just Florida they were scouting with Project X. They wanted to do an East Coast Disneyland. They looked at a number of different places on the East Coast.”

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

“Walt made several trips to Florida to look at the property and fly his Imagineers back and forth,” Walt Disney Archives Director Becky Cline said. “It wasn't just Florida they were scouting with Project X. They wanted to do an East Coast Disneyland. They looked at a number of different places on the East Coast.”

A customized instrument panel with an altimeter, true airspeed indicator, and Mickey Mouse clock allowed the aviation enthusiast to monitor flight conditions from his favorite cabin seat.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

A customized instrument panel with an altimeter, true airspeed indicator, and Mickey Mouse clock allowed the aviation enthusiast to monitor flight conditions from his favorite cabin seat.

A nearby telephone handset gave him a direct line of communication to the pilot in the cockpit.

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

Walt never became a pilot – but that didn't keep him out of the cockpit. "Often he would go up and sit in the co-pilot seat and watch the plane being flown," Cline said during a phone interview. "He was fascinated by all modes of travel."

Walt Disney prepares to board a helicopter bound for his theme park Disneyland, under construction in Anaheim, California, circa 1955.Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images

Walt never became a pilot – but that didn't keep him out of the cockpit. "Often he would go up and sit in the co-pilot seat and watch the plane being flown," Cline said during a phone interview. "He was fascinated by all modes of travel."

The flight crew always kept a Mickey Mouse matchbook next to the plane's Duk-It ashtray for the boss – a lifelong smoker.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

Passengers flying aboard The Mouse were given a flight bag with a silhouette image of Mickey lounging on the tail of the Gulfstream.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

Cocktail napkins featured pilot Mickey and stewardess Minnie flying on a patched-together cartoon plywood prop plane version of N234MM – the same tail number as Mickey Mouse One.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

Cocktail napkins featured pilot Mickey and stewardess Minnie flying on a patched-together cartoon plywood prop plane version of N234MM – the same tail number as Mickey Mouse One.

Disney pilots often changed the “Two, Three, Four, Metro Metro” air traffic controller call to “Two, Three, Four, Mickey Mouse” on approach to an airport.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

Disney pilots often changed the “Two, Three, Four, Metro Metro” air traffic controller call to “Two, Three, Four, Mickey Mouse” on approach to an airport.

The 15-passenger plane with a 3-person crew featured a galley kitchen, two couches, two tables, a drop-down desk, and two restrooms – one for the passengers and crew and another for Walt.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

The 15-passenger plane with a 3-person crew featured a galley kitchen, two couches, two tables, a drop-down desk, and two restrooms – one for the passengers and crew and another for Walt.

“It had a fully outfitted galley in the main cabin, which was special at that time,” Cline said. “It was capable of providing in-flight meals for all 18 people aboard. It had a sink, a warming oven, food storage, tray containers, and heating elements so they could heat up Walt’s chili and that sort of thing.”

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

“It had a fully outfitted galley in the main cabin, which was special at that time,” Cline said. “It was capable of providing in-flight meals for all 18 people aboard. It had a sink, a warming oven, food storage, tray containers, and heating elements so they could heat up Walt’s chili and that sort of thing.”

Walt Disney started shopping for his own plane in Summer 1960 after becoming disillusioned with commercial air travel.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneWalt Disney Archives

"They had a drop-down table so that they could have meetings and layout drawings and charts," Cline said. "Frankly, that's the main reason Walt wanted the plane. He wanted a private plane so that he could continue working, which is something he couldn't do when he flew commercial."

Stewardess Izola Readle takes tickets from cartoonist Walt Disney, with his creation Mickey Mouse, in Newark, New Jersey as they board an airplane on their way to the World's Fair in Chicago.Credit: Bettmann / Getty

"They had a drop-down table so that they could have meetings and layout drawings and charts," Cline said. "Frankly, that's the main reason Walt wanted the plane. He wanted a private plane so that he could continue working, which is something he couldn't do when he flew commercial."

A piston-engine Beechcraft Queen-Air 80 purchased in 1962 was quickly deemed inadequate for increasingly frequent trips from Burbank to New York in preparation for the 1964-65 World's Fair where It's a Small World and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln debuted.

Walt Disney drives a red Autopia car with his daughter and grandson as passengers at Disneyland theme park, Anaheim, California.Photo by Gene Lester/Getty Images

A piston-engine Beechcraft Queen-Air 80 purchased in 1962 was quickly deemed inadequate for increasingly frequent trips from Burbank to New York in preparation for the 1964-65 World's Fair where It's a Small World and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln debuted.

The new Grumman Gulfstream G-159 was purchased in late 1963 and outfitted with interior furnishings, cockpit avionics, and orange and black livery emblematic of the Walt Disney Productions logo.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneWalt Disney Archives

The new Grumman Gulfstream G-159 was purchased in late 1963 and outfitted with interior furnishings, cockpit avionics, and orange and black livery emblematic of the Walt Disney Productions logo.

Walt and his wife, Lillian, offered input on the custom interior and exterior design of the undecorated aircraft that was delivered with an olive-green primer inside and out.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneWalt Disney Archives

Walt and his wife, Lillian, offered input on the custom interior and exterior design of the undecorated aircraft that was delivered with an olive-green primer inside and out.

The interior was outfitted in a rust, orange, brown, and gold color scheme that was popular in the 1960s.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

A clear divider filled with leaves and long grasses collected from the Disney family backyard separated Walt's private space on the plane from the rest of the cabin.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneWalt Disney Archives

"That was something Walt and Lillian added to the plane as a touch of home," Cline said.

Walt's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

The N234MM registration number – with the MM chosen to honor the mouse that started it all – was ultimately transferred from the Queen-Air to the tail of the Gulfstream.

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

The N234MM registration number – with the MM chosen to honor the mouse that started it all – was ultimately transferred from the Queen-Air to the tail of the Gulfstream.

The pilot's logbook from 1963 showed the Disney Gulfstream traveling from Burbank to Orlando, Key West, New Orleans, and New York. Walt Disney often read movie scripts on the short hops between Burbank and Palm Springs.

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

The pilot's logbook from 1963 showed the Disney Gulfstream traveling from Burbank to Orlando, Key West, New Orleans, and New York. Walt Disney often read movie scripts on the short hops between Burbank and Palm Springs.

A 1964 Western Union telegram from St. Louis to Burbank sent by Walt Disney humorously referred to his brother Roy as "President of Fantasy Airlines" and offered "compliments on the fine airline you run."

Walt Disney's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

A 1964 Western Union telegram from St. Louis to Burbank sent by Walt Disney humorously referred to his brother Roy as "President of Fantasy Airlines" and offered "compliments on the fine airline you run."

Walt Disney praised his new Gulfstream in a 1964 letter to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. "Speaking strictly as one of the passengers, the comfort, the quiet, and the beauty of this plane makes it an outstanding one," Disney wrote.

Walt Disney sits with his grandson at an outdoor patio table while visiting Disneyland in Anaheim, California.Photo by Gene Lester/Getty Images

Walt Disney praised his new Gulfstream in a 1964 letter to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. "Speaking strictly as one of the passengers, the comfort, the quiet, and the beauty of this plane makes it an outstanding one," Disney wrote.

After Disney's death in 1966, the plane was used for company business and made appearances in two long-forgotten Kurt Russell-starring Disney movies – "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (1969) and "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" (1971).

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

After Disney's death in 1966, the plane was used for company business and made appearances in two long-forgotten Kurt Russell-starring Disney movies – "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (1969) and "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" (1971).

The Burbank-based aircraft was moved to Orlando in 1985 and was eventually put on display as part of the Studio Backlot Tour at what is now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

The Burbank-based aircraft was moved to Orlando in 1985 and was eventually put on display as part of the Studio Backlot Tour at what is now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

After the Disney World attraction closed in 2014, the "abandoned" plastic-wrapped plane sat in a field nearby.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

During its 28 years of airborne service, The Mouse flew 20,000 hours and transported 83,000 passengers – including Disney stars Julie Andrews and Annette Funicello and US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Walt's PlaneWalt Disney Archives

During its 28 years of airborne service, The Mouse flew 20,000 hours and transported 83,000 passengers – including Disney stars Julie Andrews and Annette Funicello and US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

The plane was decommissioned in 1992 and the twin Rolls Royce engines and everything in the cockpit were sold. "There was a lot of material inside the plane that couldn't be salvaged," Cline said. "They replaced the windows and resealed everything to protect it, but pretty much everything was taken out of the interior at that point. What was salvageable was shipped to the Walt Disney Archives here in California."

Walt Disney drives a miniature railroad with a line of passengers behind him at his home in the 1950s.Photo by Gene Lester/Archive Photos/Getty Images

The plane was decommissioned in 1992 and the twin Rolls Royce engines and everything in the cockpit were sold. "There was a lot of material inside the plane that couldn't be salvaged," Cline said. "They replaced the windows and resealed everything to protect it, but pretty much everything was taken out of the interior at that point. What was salvageable was shipped to the Walt Disney Archives here in California."

It was in this state that the decommissioned plane was part of the backlot tour from 1992 to 2014.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

"By that point, the sealant around the windows had disintegrated and it definitely needed a paint job," Cline said. "It leaked, frankly, because of the humidity and everything in Florida. They get a lot of rain down there."

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

"By that point, the sealant around the windows had disintegrated and it definitely needed a paint job," Cline said. "It leaked, frankly, because of the humidity and everything in Florida. They get a lot of rain down there."

The aging and deteriorating Disney plane was reportedly offered to Florida air museums with no takers before the Palm Springs Air Museum agreed to become the new home of Mickey Mouse One.

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

The aging and deteriorating Disney plane was reportedly offered to Florida air museums with no takers before the Palm Springs Air Museum agreed to become the new home of Mickey Mouse One.

"It's going to move on to the Palm Springs Air Museum close to the Smoke Tree Ranch, which is where Walt and his family spent some time in Palm Springs," Chapek said at the D23 Expo. "It's going to essentially go back to its roots."

Walt Disney and his wife, Lillian, smiling at their home.Photo by Gene Lester/Getty Images

"It's going to move on to the Palm Springs Air Museum close to the Smoke Tree Ranch, which is where Walt and his family spent some time in Palm Springs," Chapek said at the D23 Expo. "It's going to essentially go back to its roots."

Imagineering cleaned up the plane, replaced the windows, sealed the fuselage, added new wing edges, and painted the exterior with the original 1960s livery, including the Mickey Mouse registration number.

Walt Disney’s Grumman Gulfstream I airplaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

Imagineering cleaned up the plane, replaced the windows, sealed the fuselage, added new wing edges, and painted the exterior with the original 1960s livery, including the Mickey Mouse registration number.

The plane was disassembled at Disney World and transported cross-country on four flat-bed trucks for the D23 Expo in California. After the convention, the wings, fuselage, and tail were taken apart and once again trucked to Palm Springs where the plane was reassembled.

Walt Disney rides proudly January 1, 1966 as Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade with a character he made a household name, Mickey Mouse.Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

The plane was disassembled at Disney World and transported cross-country on four flat-bed trucks for the D23 Expo in California. After the convention, the wings, fuselage, and tail were taken apart and once again trucked to Palm Springs where the plane was reassembled.

"There really isn't anything at all left inside," Cline said. "We're hoping that one day we might be able to restore the interior as well."

Walt's PlaneBrady MacDonald/Insider

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Disney restored Walt's Mickey Mouse One Gulfstream private jet that was left to rot in Florida's heat and humidity &ndash; take a closer look at the vintage plane

The Walt Disney Company has reverentially restored the mothballed and neglected historic exterior of its famed founder's beloved Mickey Mouse One Gulfstream jet that was abandoned to rot in the Florida heat and humidity of a field in Disney World.

Walt Disney's Grumman Gulfstream I airplane will debut at its new home at the Palm Springs Air Museum on Saturday, October 15.

The company flagship refurbished by Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney Archives was affectionately known throughout its storied history as Walt's Plane and The Mouse.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek unveiled the restored Mickey Mouse One in its "full original glory" as the centerpiece of the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.

"This little beauty has been basking in the Florida sun for about the last 40 years," Chapek said at the D23 Expo.

From his cabin window, Disney surveyed the scrub-filled Central Florida swamps in the 1960s that would become Walt Disney World – then known by the code name Project X.

A customized instrument panel with an altimeter, true airspeed indicator, and Mickey Mouse clock allowed the aviation enthusiast to monitor flight conditions from his favorite cabin seat.

A nearby telephone handset gave him a direct line of communication to the pilot in the cockpit.

Walt never became a pilot – but that didn't keep him out of the cockpit. "Often he would go up and sit in the co-pilot seat and watch the plane being flown," Cline said during a phone interview. "He was fascinated by all modes of travel."

The flight crew always kept a Mickey Mouse matchbook next to the plane's Duk-It ashtray for the boss – a lifelong smoker.

Passengers flying aboard The Mouse were given a flight bag with a silhouette image of Mickey lounging on the tail of the Gulfstream.

Cocktail napkins featured pilot Mickey and stewardess Minnie flying on a patched-together cartoon plywood prop plane version of N234MM – the same tail number as Mickey Mouse One.

Disney pilots often changed the “Two, Three, Four, Metro Metro” air traffic controller call to “Two, Three, Four, Mickey Mouse” on approach to an airport.

The 15-passenger plane with a 3-person crew featured a galley kitchen, two couches, two tables, a drop-down desk, and two restrooms – one for the passengers and crew and another for Walt.

Walt Disney started shopping for his own plane in Summer 1960 after becoming disillusioned with commercial air travel.

"They had a drop-down table so that they could have meetings and layout drawings and charts," Cline said. "Frankly, that's the main reason Walt wanted the plane. He wanted a private plane so that he could continue working, which is something he couldn't do when he flew commercial."

A piston-engine Beechcraft Queen-Air 80 purchased in 1962 was quickly deemed inadequate for increasingly frequent trips from Burbank to New York in preparation for the 1964-65 World's Fair where It's a Small World and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln debuted.

The new Grumman Gulfstream G-159 was purchased in late 1963 and outfitted with interior furnishings, cockpit avionics, and orange and black livery emblematic of the Walt Disney Productions logo.

Walt and his wife, Lillian, offered input on the custom interior and exterior design of the undecorated aircraft that was delivered with an olive-green primer inside and out.

The interior was outfitted in a rust, orange, brown, and gold color scheme that was popular in the 1960s.

A clear divider filled with leaves and long grasses collected from the Disney family backyard separated Walt's private space on the plane from the rest of the cabin.

"That was something Walt and Lillian added to the plane as a touch of home," Cline said.

The N234MM registration number – with the MM chosen to honor the mouse that started it all – was ultimately transferred from the Queen-Air to the tail of the Gulfstream.

The pilot's logbook from 1963 showed the Disney Gulfstream traveling from Burbank to Orlando, Key West, New Orleans, and New York. Walt Disney often read movie scripts on the short hops between Burbank and Palm Springs.

A 1964 Western Union telegram from St. Louis to Burbank sent by Walt Disney humorously referred to his brother Roy as "President of Fantasy Airlines" and offered "compliments on the fine airline you run."

Walt Disney praised his new Gulfstream in a 1964 letter to Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. "Speaking strictly as one of the passengers, the comfort, the quiet, and the beauty of this plane makes it an outstanding one," Disney wrote.

After Disney's death in 1966, the plane was used for company business and made appearances in two long-forgotten Kurt Russell-starring Disney movies – "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (1969) and "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" (1971).

The Burbank-based aircraft was moved to Orlando in 1985 and was eventually put on display as part of the Studio Backlot Tour at what is now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

After the Disney World attraction closed in 2014, the "abandoned" plastic-wrapped plane sat in a field nearby.

During its 28 years of airborne service, The Mouse flew 20,000 hours and transported 83,000 passengers – including Disney stars Julie Andrews and Annette Funicello and US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

It was in this state that the decommissioned plane was part of the backlot tour from 1992 to 2014.

"By that point, the sealant around the windows had disintegrated and it definitely needed a paint job," Cline said. "It leaked, frankly, because of the humidity and everything in Florida. They get a lot of rain down there."

The aging and deteriorating Disney plane was reportedly offered to Florida air museums with no takers before the Palm Springs Air Museum agreed to become the new home of Mickey Mouse One.

"It's going to move on to the Palm Springs Air Museum close to the Smoke Tree Ranch, which is where Walt and his family spent some time in Palm Springs," Chapek said at the D23 Expo. "It's going to essentially go back to its roots."

Imagineering cleaned up the plane, replaced the windows, sealed the fuselage, added new wing edges, and painted the exterior with the original 1960s livery, including the Mickey Mouse registration number.

The plane was disassembled at Disney World and transported cross-country on four flat-bed trucks for the D23 Expo in California. After the convention, the wings, fuselage, and tail were taken apart and once again trucked to Palm Springs where the plane was reassembled.

"There really isn't anything at all left inside," Cline said. "We're hoping that one day we might be able to restore the interior as well."

Disney restored Walt's Mickey Mouse One Gulfstream private jet that was left to rot in Florida's heat and humidity – take a closer look at the vintage plane