According to the research I've done, Disney owns the characters to the series (Actually the whole franchise), so why don't people count them? I've seen a bunch of online fan groups that don't count them, despite the fact that they are Disney characters.
?
There are some Disney fans out there who only count characters from Disney (and Pixar) movies and TV shows as official characters, meaning they don't count video game characters. There are also Disney fans who think that SE owns the KH characters, and therefore don't count them. Although there are a number of fan groups that know that the original KH characters are Disney characters, and therefore count them and welcome them as much as they welcome every new Disney character that comes about from a movie or show.
I've always counted them, seeing as how the series takes place in the Disney universe (The Final Fantasy characters are guests). But some fans don't. It's just personal preference; a lot of Disney fans are purists or don't know that Disney actually owns the KH franchise.