Disney Castle

Disney Castle is a world that appears in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts coded, and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.

It is surrounded by Disney Town, and contains a portal to its past form, Timeless River. 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. Disney Castle's design is derived from the real-world Magic Kingdom, which is in turn based upon "Cinderella Castle".

Disney Castle first appeared during the opening and closing scenes 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.

Disney Castle later appears in Kingdom Hearts coded, where Mickey and Jiminy discover a message in his 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, exploration is limited to only within the castle, in almost all places that had 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, 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, 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 where Horace Horsecollar and probably Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck are living in after the Castle is 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 Birth by Sleep
While Disney Castle does not actually appear in the storyline, it is seen in the background of Disney Town and is featured as a racing circuit in the North American, European and Final Mix releases of the game.

Kingdom Hearts
This world is only seen in cutscenes while Sora is at the Destiny Islands, when Donald gets a letter from King Mickey with Pluto and is ordered by Queen Minnie to find the "Key" and the King. Jiminy Cricket is assigned by the Queen to become their royal chronicler.

Pluto jumps on the Gummi Ship to follow them. 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 of Light 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, a past version of Disney Castle before it was built, with Donald and Goofy to stop Pete from destroying the Cornerstone. The Keyblade Graveyard, where Sora fights the Lingering Will, is also accessible via the Hall of the Cornerstone in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.

In the ending credits, Donald, Goofy, Uncle Scrooge, Pluto, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and King Mickey all return to Disney Castle after their battle against Organization XIII.

Kingdom Hearts coded
This is where the story of Kingdom Hearts coded begins, with Jiminy Cricket re-organizing his journal when he finds a mysterious message which was later digitized by King Mickey to create a Sora out of data in hopes of discovering when the entry was added by reliving the moment.

In episode four, King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy and Pete are sucked into the data world of Disney Castle and in the real Disney Castle, Chip and Dale are trying to contact them. At the end of the game, when the data world is completely debugged and erased, they are sent back to the real Disney Castle, where King Mickey writes a letter to the real Sora about his findings (Terra, Aqua and Ven) and sends it to him in a bottle.

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.
 * In the Audience Chamber, there are statues of Donald and Goofy in full regalia, or their ancestors, and in the Library, there are two portraits of Mickey's ancestors. The Audience Chamber also contains a sculpture resembling the Kingdom Hearts logo. On the desk in the library there is a photo of King Mickey and Queen Minnie in their normal Disney clothes. Furthermore, several of the hedges in the Courtyard are patterned after the band players from The Band Concert, one of them bearing a resemblance to Horace Horsecollar.
 * Disney Castle was shown as a playable world in an early trailer for Kingdom Hearts, but was removed from the finished game.