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The first phase of the long-awaited Ghibli Park in Japan will open in November 2022 with a themed land inspired by the studio’s My Neighbor Totoro animation
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 04 Feb 2022
Once complete the park will feature five themed lands inspired by several Studio Ghibli IP Credit: Studio Ghibli
The hotly-anticipated Studio Ghibli theme park will officially open later this year, the animation studio has revealed.
The Japanese theme park will open in phases, with the first phase scheduled to open to the public on November 1, 2022.
The opening was announced on Twitter alongside an image of Totoro, the main character from the Studio Ghibli animation My Neighbour Totoro
The park, which was first announced in 2017, is being built inside the Aichi Earth Expo Park in Aichi Prefecture and is the result of a collaboration between the Japanese animation studio and the Aichi Prefectural Government.
Occupying 71,000sq m (764,238sq ft), once complete, the park will consist of five themed lands: Witch Valley, Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse, Princess Mononoke Village, Dondoko Forest and Springtime of Life Hill.
The first land to open is Dondoko Forest, themed around My Neighbor Totoro, with Witch Valley and Princess Mononoke Village expected to follow in 2023.
Once open, the park, which cost ¥34bn (US$323m, €267m, £235m) to build, is expected to attract up to 1.8 million guests a year.
There are currently few details of the park’s attractions, however, Witch Valley will include a life-size replica of Howl’s Moving Castle and while there will be rides, Studio Ghibli has said that the park won’t feature any large scale rollercoasters, focusing instead on a nature-friendly immersive guest experience.
The animation studio has retained complete creative control over the project, with longtime director Hayao Miyazaki insisting that no trees be cut down during the park’s construction, while the park’s layout was planned around existing clearings.
The Witch Valley themed land will feature a life-size replica of Howl’s Moving Castle from the animation of the same name CREDIT: STUDIO GHIBLI
Theme park
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