Not to be confused with Ghibli Museum in Mitaka off Tokyo. Ghibli Park is massive with lifesize replicas of the most famous Ghibli buildings and sets, including Howl’s Moving Castle.
As a big fan of Ghibli studio, I’ve introduced its movies to my kids at a very young age. They took to it like duck to water and follow in my footsteps. We were all excited to finally get the chance to visit the park which had just opened a couple of years back.
Booking was made via their website. As always, Japanese websites are not the most English friendly but it wasn’t too much of a hassle in this case.
The park is totally worth it. Much much bigger than I thought. Takes a lot of walking so come prepared. Walking shoes, plenty of water, sunscreen, umbrellas are a must in summer.
The park is divided into sections, by movie sets. I can recall Laputa (the friendly robots), Totoro (the actual house), Arrietty, Mononoke (the landscape and boar god), Kiki and my favourite, Howl’s Moving Castle (the actual castle with the ability to view the interior).
There’s a place to grab lunch there but don’t expect anything worth talking about. Simple fare.
