Ghibli Park – Klook package

Before Ghibli Park opened in 2022, fans of the Ghibli films could only visit the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, which is a city within Tokyo. You can see my review here about the entire experience of visiting the Museum. When announcements were made about a brand-new park being built, I was already planning to include it as part of my trip

Planning for Ghibli Park was just like booking tickets for Disney or Universal. Tickets go on sale two months in advance, on the 10th of every month at 2 pm, on the official website. Tickets are priced JPY 7,300 for weekdays and JPY 7,800 for weekends for all areas entry tickets. You can also choose to buy tickets to specific areas only, which are cheaper

As I only have a day in Nagoya, I opted to go through an operator to get the tickets plus transport from Nagoya Central. I chose Klook’s package, which included the entrance fee, transport to and from Nagoya Station, Bento Lunch, plus entry to the Aichi Museum of Flight. Personally, I didn’t think it was all that worth it and would choose to camp out to grab the tickets and make my way there myself if I were to visit again

The tour started by departing the Marriott hotel at 840am and took 45 minutes to an hour to reach the park. We were given the Bento lunch set on the bus so we could enjoy it within the park. Once we reached, the guide brought us directly to the Grand Warehouse, as there were designated timings to enter the Grand Warehouse. We were also given a map of the park with the guide giving us tips on the most optimised way of touring the park since we had limited time in the park

There was already a long queue when we arrived, and staff would check the tickets to ensure we were queuing for the correct entry timing. Once you exit the warehouse, you cannot re-enter, so it is recommended that you spend the most time here. From the checks, I also found out that there are premium tickets which allow you to go into some of the buildings, but our packaged tickets were the general ones, so we need to pay an additional entry fee. I will elaborate more when I talk about the areas later. The queue took about 15 to 20 minutes, and we were in the warehouse slightly after 10.30 am, our designated slot

The first thing that caught my eye was the central stairway, which is filled with colourful tiles and reminded me of Park Guell in Spain. I spent some time taking pictures of the stairway while waiting for my nephew from the washroom

Due to our lack of research, we decided to quickly join the longest queue, which was for the central exhibition room. The queue took us 1 hour and 15 minutes, and we subsequently realised that it was the queue for photography with No Face, Kanonoshi

The queue took extremely long to move as tourist were taking their own sweet time to take multiple poses, pictures per person. I witnessed a group taking at least 50 pictures with just the same 2 people. The staff were very nice not to chase any of the tourists or restrict the number of photos taken. I would have given this a miss and taken a picture at the side if I had known what the queue was for much earlier

The rest of the display within the building was filled with statues and scenes from other Ghibli films. There was hardly any queue for the rest of the displays, and you can easily get your turn in 2 minutes. It was really fun determining which film the scenes were from, since I did not watch every single movie and interacting with the displays for great pictures. We spent another 30 minutes taking multiple pictures at the different displays

There are many areas for you to visit and see, but for me, it was more of a touch-and-go since I wanted to make sure I covered all the areas in the outdoor space as well. There are many spots for people to just sit and chill, but as no food is allowed, you cannot eat your bento inside the warehouse. The cat bus is the only area where photography is not allowed, as it is a kids’ playground, and parents can put their kids here while they chill. The special exhibit room is where you can take a picture of the giant Tororo at the bar counter, as well as the giant-sized Cat Bus. The robot is located at the Garden in the sky, and the Instagrammable street is a recreation of an old Japanese street with several stores

There is also a theatre showing a short animation which is not been released and you can enter with the tickets given to you when you enter the Grand Warehouse. This is a similar experience to the Ghibli Museum, and I was glad the short film had different content. We also visited the tiny people garden and house from The Secret World of Arrietty, which was very well made. Just before exiting the Grand Warehouse, you will chance upon Yubaba’s office from Spirited Away, which is non-interactive. There was an open warehouse which housed some real props used in the movies, which I did not take photos and last but not least, before finally exiting the Grand Warehouse, there is the gift shop with tonnes of Ghibli merchandise. A tip is to get the merchandise you want if you see it, as there is no re-entry, and some merchandise is only available at certain gift shops

By the time we finished the Grand Warehouse, we had slightly less than 2 hours to quickly have lunch and finish touring the rest of the outdoor exhibits. The bento set provided by the package is vegetarian to cater to a bigger crowd, and was surprisingly good for my nephew, who doesn’t eat vegetarian food, to find the bento very delicious

The first area we went to, which was the farthest from the Grand Warehouse, was the Dondoko Forest, where Tororo is located. There are 3 ways to reach the Forest: by walking through the park on a straight pathway, and enjoying the view of the commemorative park itself, hiking through a small mountain forest, which is a shorter route, or simply taking the free shuttle bus with designated bus stops. I made the mistake of not taking the bus and walking the long way, which took me another 30 minutes. I enjoyed the hike, and cursed I did not have a full day at the park, so I partially ran and walked to reach the Dondoko Forest. You can find Satsuki and Mei’s House, where only the premium ticket holders are allowed to step into the house. There is a Dondoko-do on top of the hill, which is a 5-meter-tall wooden play equipment where children under twelve years and under can play inside. There is a small souvenir shop here where you can buy Totoro Amulets. We also took the slope car, which is called Dondoko-go, down the slope to where the rest stop and ticket purchase for the car bus are located

The cat bus ride is JPY1,000 per person, but we decided to do it to save time and also get the experience. The car bus can take up to 4 people maximum, but we got the ride all to ourselves. The staff were very friendly and offered to take many pictures for us. The ride took 5 to 10 minutes to the next stop, Mononoke Village. The bus plays the Totoro theme song while it travels, and can be quite fast in terms of speed

The Witches Village is 5 minutes walk away from Mononoke Village, which we ended up skipping due to time constraints. One of the main things we wanted to see was Howl’s castle, which was inside the witch’s village. The area is huge and has many European looking buildings and included a restaurant, cafe, Kiki’s bakery which is for photo taking and Howl’s castle. As we did not have the premium ticket, we could only take pictures outside. We had only 30 minutes left before the gathering time at the carpark, so we kind of rushed through this area and the gift shop and ran back to the carpark

The central elevator was open to the public, so we decided to take it back to the carpark

The sky was turning dark pretty fast by the time we reached the Aichi Museum of Flight, which features many old aeroplanes as well as some historical events where the aeroplanes were used. The museum by itself is pretty interesting, but as I had to rush through my outdoor route in Ghibli Park, I think I would rather have the extra hour for the park itself

Overall, as a Ghibli fan, I loved the park experience and would love to revisit it with a premium ticket to enter all the buildings. Even though photos are not allowed within the buildings, it will be great to experience them in person. I would have loved to stroll through the park and take time to enjoy the sights. My overall view of the package is that it is suitable for families with kids, so it is hassle-free and people who are not extreme Ghibli fans, so they don’t mind missing out on some areas. For fans, I recommend spending 1 full day or even 2 days to slowly enjoy each area and take in the sights of the beautiful park itself

Address:  Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park (Moricoro Park), Japan, 〒480-1342 Aichi, Nagakute, Ibaragabasama, 乙１５３３−１

Opening hours: 10 am to 5 pm, 9 am to 5pm on Sat and Sun and closed on Tuesday