Disney Castle

Disney Castle is a World from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Although it has no animated counterpart, it is clearly based off on the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland and the Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. It is the home of King Mickey, Queen Minnie, 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.

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.

Setting
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. 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, Queen 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 probably where Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar 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 disapperance 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 the Queen Minnie to find the "Key" and the King. The world appears on the Gummi Ship map near Traverse Town, but is not accessible.

Kingdom Hearts II
When Pete and Maleficent mess with the Cornerstone and try to take over the castle, Sora can visit the castle for the first time, protect Queen Minnie, and eventually go to Timeless River to stop it all from happening. In Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+, the Sunset Horizons, where you fight with Terra is also accessible in the Hall of the Cornerstone. In the ending credits, you see Donald, Goofy, Uncle Scrooge, 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 journal and finds a mysterious message which was later digitilized by King Mickey to create a Sora out of data in hopes to discover when the entry was added by reliving the moment.

Locations

 * Gummi Hangar
 * Courtyard
 * Colonnade
 * Library
 * Audience Chamber
 * The Hall of the Cornerstone

Trivia

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


 * The music that plays in the castle is actually the Mickey Mouse Club theme song.


 * After the first visit in Kingdom Hearts II, it becomes the only world without enemies except in Timeless River; however in the Final Mix the Terra boss was added to make the world more visitable.


 * It should be noted that in Kingdom Hearts II, in the Audience Chamber, there are statues of either Donald and Goofy from the past, or their ancestors. In the Library, there are two pictures, which might be those of Mickey's ancestors.


 * 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.


 * Disney Castle was shown as 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.


 * In the gummi hangar, there is a hidden Mickey on one of the cogs.


 * On the desk in the library, there is a letter which could have been the one Sora, Riku, and Kairi got from the King at the end of the game.