Disney Castle

Disney Castle (ディズニーキャッスル) is a World from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. It is the home of King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Goofy, and the other classic animated characters created by Walt Disney. As such, Disney Castle is considered to represent Disney's short films and cartoons, although that role would later be shared with Timeless River. It is surrounded by Disney Town.

Disney Castle first appeared during the beginning segments of Kingdom Hearts. It was unplayable, although visible throughout the game on the Gummi Map screen to the left of Traverse Town.

In Kingdom Hearts II, Disney Castle took on a more active role when the barrier protecting Disney Castle, the Cornerstone of Light, was corrupted by Maleficent and the world was invaded by the Heartless. This brought Disney Castle's attention to Sora and his friends, who rescued the castle with the help of Queen Minnie and the inhabitants of Timeless River.

It has been confirmed that Disney Castle will appear in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts coded game, where Mickey and Jiminy discover a message in Jiminy's Journal that says "We must free them from their torment" and create a data version of Sora.

Locations
Though Disney Castle shows the palace and a little town on the World Map, the exploration is only limited within the castle, in almost all places that has been seen in the first game. King Mickey and Queen Minnie and other members of the royal organization hold meetings in the Audience Chamber. Hidden below Mickey's throne is another room called the Hall of the Cornerstone where the Cornerstone of Light is kept safe.

Below the castle is the Gummi Hangar, a room for storing and maintaining the Gummi Ship, and controlled by Chip and Dale. This room is accessed by entering a castle-like arrangement of foliage in the courtyard. Sora and his party later enter Disney Castle through this room when they visit in Kingdom Hearts II.

Other places to be explored include the Library, where Donald, Minnie, Daisy, and Goofy first read the letter from King Mickey about the danger of the universe. Minnie, Daisy and a broom servant can also be seen here anytime after you save the castle from Maleficent after returning from Timeless River. The Courtyard is the place where Donald catches Goofy napping, and where Queen Minnie and Daisy ask Donald to explain things in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts. The Colonnade in the castle connects the Courtyard to the rest of the castle. A town can also be seen on the world image of the castle on the world map. This town is where Horace Horsecollar and probably Clarabelle Cow, and Clara Cluck are living in after the Castle was built.

A pathway can also be seen when Donald rushes to tell Goofy about the King's disappearance in the first game. However, this pathway was deleted in Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts
This world is only seen in cutscenes while Sora is at the Destiny Islands, when Donald Duck gets a letter from King Mickey with Pluto and is ordered by Queen Minnie to find the "Key" and the King. Donald and Goofy begin their journey from here on. The world appears on the Gummi Ship map near Traverse Town, but is not accessible. In the ending credits, Huey, Dewey and Louie return to Disney Castle after the order of the worlds is restored.

Kingdom Hearts II
When Pete and Maleficent mess with the Cornerstone and try to take over the castle by going back to the past to alter the present, Sora visits the castle for the first time, where he protects Queen Minnie, and eventually goes to Timeless River with Donald and Goofy, a past version of Disney Castle before it was built, to stop Pete from destroying the Cornerstone. In Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+, the Keyblade Graveyard, where you fight with the Lingering Sentiment is also accessible in the Hall of the Cornerstone. In the ending credits, you see Donald, Goofy, Uncle Scrooge, Pluto, Huey, Dewey, and Louie and King Mickey all returning to Disney Castle.

Kingdom Hearts coded
This is where the story of Kingdom Hearts coded begins, with Jiminy Cricket re-organizing his Jiminy's Journal and finds a mysterious message which was later digitized by King Mickey to create a Sora out of data in hopes to discover when the entry was added by reliving the moment. It was revelaed that in episode 4 King Mickey, Donald, Goofy,and Jiminy are in the data world of Disney Castle and the real Disney Castle Chip and Dale are trying to contact them.

Trivia

 * Because Disney Castle is not based on any Disney movie, it is the only Disney-based world in the game that doesn't borrow anything from the productions. It is based plot-wise, only borrowing characters instead.


 * It should be noted that in Kingdom Hearts II, in the Audience Chamber, there are statues of Donald and Goofy from the past, or their ancestors. In the Library, there are two pictures, which might be those of Mickey's ancestors. Also it should be noted that in Kingdom Hearts II, in the Audience Chamber on the wall opposite the entrance there is a heart-shaped symbol directly above King Mickey's throne between the Donald and Goofy statues. It appears to be very similar to the Kingdom Hearts logo that is featured on the boxart of the Kingdom Hearts series games.


 * A lot of the garden bushes in the Courtyard look a lot like the band players from The Band Concert, one of which bears a striking resemblance to Horace Horsecollar.


 * In the cutscene from Kingdom Hearts, it shows Donald and Goofy leaving the world. Instead of going through the suspected exit, though, they fall through the floor.


 * Disney Castle was shown playable in an early teaser-trailer released by SquareSoft for the first Kingdom Hearts. It was later dropped from the finished game.


 * On the desk in the library there is a photo of King Mickey and Queen Minnie in their normal Disney clothes.