Timeless River

Based on Steamboat Willie and other early Disney cartoons of that era, Timeless River is the "past" of Disney Castle, shortly before it was built.[36] This world is accessed via the door Merlin created in the Hall of the Cornerstone chamber in Kingdom Hearts II.[37] The world is portrayed in black and white. Nomura had intended it to be this way from the beginning of development.[38] The world has many throwback effects including intentionally poor sound quality to imitate old cartoons. In this grayscale world, Sora's character model is simplified to the style of early cartoons, while Goofy and Donald Duck revert to their original designs from when they first appeared in Disney cartoons. Past versions of many Disney characters also appear including Pete and King Mickey, who Pete refers to as the "boat-boy king", a reference to his previous employment on Pete's steamboat. Timeless River also contains reenactments of some popular Mickey Mouse cartoons with locations such as Lilliput and a blazing building known as the "scene of the fire".