Not to be confused with the Ghibli Museum near Tokyo, this new Ghibli Park (near Nagoya) was built to offer a real-life immersive experience for fans of the Studio Ghibli anime movies. It’s five distinct worlds, each featuring life-sized environments from the films, so you can go inside (and take pictures of yourself) at iconic locations in Howl’s Moving Castle, Mei and Satsuki’s house (from Totoro), sitting next to No Face (Spirited Away) and countless other fan favorites. If you’re a Ghibli mega-fan, this is already on your bucket list.
Naturally (how many times have you tried to get tickets to the Ghibli Museum?) getting tickets requires ninja-level electronic booking skills and a whole lotta luck, since even if you’re online the instant ticket sales go live, you’re assigned a spot according to a lottery, so you could still be #8,543.
Since I am utterly unqualified to give you advice about how to do this, I’m sending you to the most major maven of Japanese theme park how-tos I know—my Japan warrior journalist friend Helen Foster, who has documented and explored this maze (including all the dead ends) so you don’t have to.
Her extremely accurate and easy-to-follow post will tell you:
• How to access the ticket site and what info you’ll need when you get there
• Sure-fire ways to increase your chances of getting tickets
• Her guide to everything there is to see in Ghibli Park, and guidance on whether you need to buy a Premium ticket or should buy Standard and add on sights of special interest
• How the very confusing queuing system works. She describes what each line is for (tickets or photo op?) and which lines are for tokens that specify your time slot for entering popular attractions
• Strategies for making sure you see everything you want to see, in the most uncrowded and pleasant way possible (including advice about a main attraction where you can stay as long as you like once you’re in, but can’t re-enter after you leave).
If you know someone who’s planning to go, they will thank you for sharing this:
How get tickets and visit the new Ghibli Park
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
Jonelle Patrick writes about Japan 