Ghibli Park unveils new shop and restaurants in Witch’s Valley area, and yes — there’s a bakery!

Now we’ll be able to taste the bread from Kiki’s Delivery Service!

It’s been a long six years since Studio Ghibli first announced its plans to open a theme park in Aichi Prefecture, and after the highly anticipated opening of the first areas in November 2022 and the second areas in November 2023, we’re finally inching closer to the date when the final area will open on 16 March.

The last section of the park to be revealed is the Valley of Witches, an area dedicated to the studio’s witch-centric anime movies: Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Earwig and the Witch.

As always, details of the new area are being kept closely under wraps until the grand reveal, but the studio has finally shared some  information about the restaurants and store that awaits us in the valley, with the highlight being…

▼ …Gütiokipänjä.

This is the bakery that appears in Kiki’s Delivery Service, and it’ll be filled with bread for customers to purchase, giving us the chance to step into Kiki’s magical anime world and get a true taste of it.

As well as being able to purchase bread, visitors can make their way up to the attic, where they’ll be able to see where Kiki and Jiji slept.

▼ We can’t wait to explore this bakery in real life.

This isn’t the only place to eat in the Valley of Witches, though, as heartier meals will be served at…

▼ …Soratobu Oven (Flying Oven).

With a name that conjures up images of magical flights in the sky, this brick restaurant is located at the entrance to the Valley of Witches, and mainly offers oven-baked dishes such as pies and quiches, which customers can enjoy in-store.

▼ Here’s hoping we get to see this pie from Kiki’s Delivery Service on the menu.

Those who prefer to eat in the great outdoors will want to stop at the Hot Tin Roof hot dog stand, where they sell giant piping hot sausages sandwiched between small buns, which can be eaten on benches in the area.

▼ That sounds a lot like the hot dogs served at the Ghibli Museum’s Straw Hat Cafe.

カフェ「麦わらぼうしのホットドッグ」です。思い出すと食べたくなる、どこか懐かしくて優しい味わい。「パリッ」と「肉の旨味じゅわ〜〜」をモグモグモグモグ……と、感じたい時にはぜひどうぞ。 pic.twitter.com/q03FS10uuX

— 三鷹の森ジブリ美術館 (@GhibliML) January 28, 2022

Finally, Ghibli has announced there’ll be a store in this section of the park called “13 Witches“, where you can buy original Valley of Witches goods. A variety of products with motifs of buildings and exhibits from the Valley are set to be lined up on “unique shelves”, which suggests the interior of the store will be just as eye-catching as the goods.

▼ We’d place a bet on there being at least one or two witch’s brooms in the store.

If you are planning on visiting in March when the new area opens, tickets are now available, and depending on which areas you want to visit, you’ll have to make sure you have the right ticket.

For visits up until February, admission tickets are sold by area, but visitors from March onwards can purchase an “O-Sanpo Day Pass” that allows you to enter all areas of the park.

“Osanpo” or “sanpo” means “stroll”, and “Sanpo” is the name of the My Neighbour Totoro opening song, making it the perfect name for this ticket, which allows you to do a lot of strolling. The standard O-Sanpo Pass is priced at 3,500 yen (US$24.07) for adults on weekdays and 4,000 yen for weekends (children aged 4-12 pay half price and children 0-4 enter for free), and gets you entry into all the areas, while the Premium O-Sanpo Pass (priced at 7,300 yen for adults on weekdays and 7,800 yen on weekends) comes with the extra benefit of being able to enter the following five buildings:

• World Emporium (Hill of Youth)
• Satsuki and Mei’s House (Dondoko Forest)
• The Okino Residence, Howl’s Castle, The House of Witches (Valley of Witches)

Tickets, which are sold for set time slots, must be purchased in advance, so be sure to check out the official site online. The Premium O-Sanpo Pass might seem like a bit of an investment, but with so many areas to explore, and Howl’s Castle looking as awesome as it does, it’ll be money well spent!

Source: PR Times
Featured image: PR Times
Insert images: Studio Ghibli (1, 2, 3), PR Times
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