Disney flies to Tokyo as Japanese theme park expansion talks intensify

Disney flew from Hollywood Burbank Airport to Tokyo Haneda on June 7, a 10-hour, 51-minute transpacific hop aboard Gulfstream G650ER N650WW. The aircraft, a modern successor to the original Mickey Mouse One Gulfstream I that carried Walt Disney himself between Burbank and New York during the 1964 World's Fair, arrived in Japan early on June 8.

The trip lands the company in Tokyo the same week that sources tell *Reuters* and local Japanese media that The Walt Disney Company and Oriental Land Co. are in advanced negotiations on a multi-billion-dollar expansion of Tokyo DisneySea, the most visited theme park in Japan. A formal announcement of new attractions, potentially including a Frozen-themed land and a Peter Pan dark ride, is expected within the month. Bob Iger and senior Imagineers frequently use the Burbank–Tokyo route for such planning sessions.

The flight follows a pattern visible in recent N650WW movements: after a series of short hops around Southern California and Mexico in late May, Disney repositioned the jet from Burbank to Tokyo directly. The company's reliance on its Gulfstream fleet echoes Walt's own use of his Grumman Gulfstream I for transcontinental and international work, as chronicled by the National Air and Space Museum — a flying boardroom for conversations too sensitive for commercial cabins. [wdwnt.com](https://wdwnt.com/2026/05/step-aboard-the-mouse-with-disney-legend-bob-gurr-in-new-tour-of-walt-disneys-plane/)