The news that Studio Ghibli was building a theme park has been out for a while now. They made the announcement way back in 2015-20 years ago in pandemic time. In January of this year they announced the opening date: November 1st, 2022! With less than two months to opening day, they’ve revealed some amazing photos and concept art to some of the parks most exciting attractions.
The latest update reveals a giant recreation of Howl’s Moving Castle, from the 2004 film of the same name. Built inside the “Witch Valley” portion of the park, it’s impressive. While it’s not built to scale, it’ll be a massive structure to explore. Nerdist.com reports it will be five stories high, “Guests will be able to ‘see the eye-catching cannons moving.’ As well as ‘Howl’s bedroom inside the building.’ Visitors will also be able to walk the castle’s gardens and dine at accompanying restaurants.”
They’ve revealed parts of the park that were announced later in construction, such as a “Princess Mononoke.” It will join the previously announced areas namely: Witch Valley, Youth Hill, Ghibli Warehouse and Dondokomori. Witch Valley and Princess Mononoke areas are still under construction and will be opening up in 2023. But the other three areas will be ready to go come November 1st. Tickets to the park are available for purchase now.
You can even to check out a map of the park. I can’t read Japanese, but that doesn’t keep me from ogling over the photographs and the artist renderings of the parks features. You can take a look at the map for yourself here.
Popularity of the Studio Ghibli films has only grown over the last few years. Although it’s a fandom that I’m not fully familiar with personally, it’s exciting to see a theme park go up that feels like it could rival Disney. It’s got the fandom. It’s got the whimsey. All that’s left to put into play is the magic of the experience. A Studio Ghibli Theme Park has been a long time coming and it’s exciting to see that-finally-it’s almost here!
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