Disney Worlds That Were Scrapped From The Kingdom Hearts Games

Kingdom Hearts is popular for a multitude of reasons, with its collection of Disney Worlds being one of the biggest in any medium. Players are enchanted with the idea of visiting levels based on their favorite Disney movies through the eyes of Sora, Donald, & Goofy.

However, just like any other successful video game franchise, Kingdom Hearts has a lot of unused content, and some of it is related to Disney Worlds that were left on the cutting room floor. Over the years, fans have uncovered many of these scrapped levels, and the following seven are the most fascinating ones that they wish had been implemented in one way or another.

7 Toy Story Was Scrapped From Kingdom Hearts

Players Almost Got To Meet Woody & Buzz In The First Game

Series’ director Tetsuya Nomura has stated multiple times that he wished to create worlds based on Pixar movies for a long time, but he didn’t have the chance to do it until recently . However, m ost fans may be unaware of the fact that he has planned on doing so since the very beginning.

Fans discovered a design document for Kingdom Hearts in 2015 and, inside of it, there was old concept art for a Toy Story world, which included iconic locations like Andy’s House, Pizza Planet, and Al’s Toy Barn. It’s most likely Disney ended up scrapping this level because they didn’t fully own Pixar back in 2001. However, Nomura finally got his wish when he created a Toy Story world for Kingdom Hearts 3, seeing as Disney has owned Pixar since 2006.

6 Tarzan Was Scrapped From Chain Of Memories

A Nostalgic World That Has Disappeared From The Franchise

Some Kingdom Hearts games, like Chain of Memories or Coded, constantly reuse worlds that were featured in the first entry, with the only exception being Deep Jungle, the world based on Tarzan. This is apparently because Disney lost the license to use Edgar Rice Burroughs’ IP in the early 2000s.

However, old concept art for the original Game Boy Advance version of Chain of Memories revealed that Sora was supposed to revisit Deep Jungle at some point in his journey through Castle Oblivion. If that wasn't already enough proof, a card for this world's Keyblade, Jungle King, can be found within the game's files. It's highly likely that Square Enix planned to reuse this world until the higher ups at Disney told them that they were not legally allowed to. Because of this fascinating story, Deep Jungle is a major stand out in the franchise; a Disney World that was featured in one game, but was immediately scrapped from the next one.

5 Monsters Inc. Was Scrapped From Kingdom Hearts 2

Nomura’s Dream To Use Pixar Characters Never Died

Monsters Inc. Is actually Pixar’s second-biggest movie behind Toy Story, so it makes a lot of sense that Nomura also wanted to include it in a Kingdom Hearts title as soon as possible. Way back in 2008, a dedicated group of fans discovered text files for an unused world based on Monsters Inc. Inside the data of Kingdom Hearts 2.

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This caused a lot of commotion & speculation among the fan base for years, until Tetsuya Nomura eventually confirmed it in an interview for Kingdom Hearts 3 Ultimania. He claimed that his team created some models of Monsters Inc. And Toy Story characters in order to add them to Kingdom Hearts 2, and even began some negotiations with Disney. Unfortunately, they had to scrap them, but this rejection is what made him prioritize the inclusion of both IPs in Kingdom Hearts 3 years later, in which he succeeded.

4 Pinocchio Was Scrapped From 358/2 Days

Roxas’ Story Was Going To Introduce A New Disney World

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Roxas visits several worlds that players have already experienced in previous games. However, it seems that a brand-new world was going to make its debut in this game: one based off of Pinnochio. Of course, the first game already featured Monstro, but this would’ve been an entire level set in the actual amusement park featured in the movie.

In a 2010 Q&A, Nomura revealed his plans to include a Pinocchio world in the game, and even revealed that the main plot was going to be centered on Roxas and Xion meeting Pinocchio himself, who is a puppet with a heart, and how this would've reflected their current situation. This world was later implemented in Dream Drop Distance, with the name Prankster’s Paradise, but fans still wonder how different the scrapped version from 358/2 Days would’ve been. Especially since character portraits of Honest John and Gideon can be found in the game’s data, and neither of them appeared later in Prankster’s Paradise.

3 The Jungle Book Was Scrapped From Birth By Sleep

Aqua, Terra, And Ventus Almost Visited This Iconic Jungle Setting

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was the first handheld release in the franchise to feature new Disney Worlds players had never visited before, although they were all related to characters that already appeared in previous games, like Cinderella, Snow White or Stitch. However, some fans discovered that an entirely new Disney property was going to make its debut in this beloved prequel: The Jungle Book.

Unlike other unused Disney Worlds in the franchise, it seems that this one was very far along in development when it was cut, as fans have found entire modeled areas in the files of the original PSP version of Birth by Sleep. They can even be accessed via cheat codes, in order to explore them with Terra, Aqua, or Ventus, and it’s all really fascinating. It’s a shame that this world was removed, because The Jungle Book was never featured in any subsequent Kingdom Hearts games either.

2 Treasure Planet Was Scrapped From Dream Drop Distance

One Of Disney’s Most Underrated Films Almost Got It’s Time To Shine

The collection of worlds in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is unique, as it features some unconventional properties that most players wouldn’t expect to visit in this franchise, like Tron: Legacy or Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers. Because of this, it shouldn’t really be a surprise that a world based on Treasure Planet, one of Disney’s most underappreciated movies, was planned to be included at some point.

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In 2016, fans found a huge, texture-less model of the RSL Legacy –\— the main spaceship from Treasure Planet — in the files for the Nintendo 3DS version of the game. Similarly to The Jungle Book in Birth by Sleep, this environment can be accessed via hacking, and explored with Sora or Riku. It’s interesting, because the fact that this vessel was modeled in its entirety implies that this world was worked on for quite some time, but Nomura never gave an official explanation as to why it ultimately went unused.

1 Cars Was Scrapped From Kingdom Hearts 3

Were Sora, Donald, & Goofy Going To Be Turned Into Vehicles?

Tetsuya Nomura finally got his wish to use Pixar properties in Kingdom Hearts 3. Not only did he and his team create the worlds of Toy Box and Monstropolis, but Remy from Ratatouille even starred in his own mini-game set within Twilight Town. This has already caused much speculation among fans, who wonder what other Pixar movies may be featured in future installments. However, what may be the most unexpected and unconventional Pixar IP was almost included in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Very recently, Kingdom Hearts fans discovered pre-production material of the game, known as the “KH3 Premium Showcase Files”. Among these files, a text list of worlds can be found, which reveals that a Cars World was in the plans at some point. The fact that it’s only mentioned in the text and no 3D models were found implies that it didn’t last too far into development. However, this revelation confused fans for weeks, and many of them were left wondering about the details. Sora, Donald, & Goofy might have been transformed into vehicles, which would have been extremely bizarre.

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