Ghibli theme park will have Totoro playroom, Kiki’s house, and let you work Irontown’s bellows

Ghibli Park helps make the wait for its opening a little easier with new info.

With Super Nintendo World having finally opened at Universal Studios Japan, the next Japanese amusement park event we’re looking forward to is the opening of Ghibli Park. The Aichi Prefecture site promises to be a large-scale love letter to the anime works of Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki, and the planners have just released a fresh batch of information as a sneak peek of what’ll be waiting for guests.

As a refresher, Ghibli Park will be located within Aichi Expo Memorial Park, in the city of Nagakute, near Nagoya. In total, Ghibli Park will have five sections, as marked on the map below: Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse (pink), Hill of Youth (yellow), Dondoko Forest (i.e. Totoro’s forest) (purple), Witch’s Valley (red), and Mononoke Village (green).

Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse, Hill of Youth, and Dondoko Forest, will be the first to open, with with Witch’s Valley and Mononoke Village coming one year later. While plans for a few of their attractions had been previously revealed, the latest announcement adds several more, plus a new piece of concept art that’s sure to bring a smile to the faces of Ghibli fans of all ages: the Totoro playroom that’s going to be part of Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse!

In contrast to the larger reconstructions of My Neighbor Totoro settings in the Dondoko Forest area, this is an active play space with scaled-down structures from the beloved anime, such as Mei and Satsuki’s house and local shrines, plus a camphor tree and, of course, a Catbus.

As previously announced, Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse will also feature garden ruins from Laputa: Castle in the Sky and a section that recreates the perspective of the tiny protagonist of Arrietty. The latest announcement also mentions several other new planned attractions for various sections of the park:

● Ghibli’s Giant Warehouse: A 6.3-meter (20,7-foot) long scale replica of an airship from Laputa: Castle in the Sky
● Youth Hill: A recreation of Whisper of the Heart’s rotary plaza and a miniature version of The Cat Return’s cat’s office
● Mononoke Village: Iron forge bellows that guests can work, charcoal burner’s shop
● Witch’s Valley: Recreation of Kiki’s Delivery Service’s Okino house (Kiki’s childhood home) and “witch’s house” (likely Kiki’s home after she moves to her new town)

Giant Warehouse, Hill of Youth, and Dondoko Forest are scheduled to open in the fall of 2022.

Source: Aichi Prefecture via Livedoor News/Kyodo via Otakomu
Images: Aichi Prefecture/Studio Ghibli
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