And, all of this has come with ticket price increases at Disney Parks on both coasts. In fact, it is actually less expensive, at certain times of year, for California residents to visit Disneyland Paris than to vacation at their local Park, Disneyland Resort.
For those who are weary of [Disney] ponying up higher prices on an annual basis, an excellent alternative is opening in November. Studio Ghibli, the Oscar award-winning Japanese animation studio often called “The Disney of Japan,” is slated to open its own long-anticipated theme park on November 1 right outside Nagoya in Aichi Commemorative Park in Nagakute, Japan.
The theme park property, which is set to feature five lands — similar to Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando and Disneyland Park in Anaheim — will be anchored by a replica of Howl’s Moving Castle from the popular 2004 film of the same name.
The five sections of the Park are set to be the Springtime of Life Hill/Youth Hill, the Dondoko Forest Area — based on the iconic My Neighbor Totoro (1988) — the Ghibli Large Warehouse Area, the Mononoke’s Village Area from Princess Mononoke (1997), and the Witches’ Valley Area inspired by both Moving Castle and the ever-popular Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989).
In a somewhat surprising move, Studio Ghibli has actually decided to open one attraction now, months ahead of the Park’s November 2022 opening date. Last month, the “elevator tower” entrance became available to Guests free of charge.
An English translation of the following Tweet reads:
The “elevator tower”, which is one of the entrances to Ghibli Park, was unveiled. The elevator tower, which was designed based on the fantasy science world at the end of the 19th century, which became the model of the world of “Castle in the Sky”, can be used free of charge from today.
An article about the opening shared some details about how many Guests are expected to visit Ghibli Park in the near future, as it begins its phased opening process later this year:
The staff projects that 1 million people annually will visit the first three areas to open, and then 1.8 million people annually will visit once the park is fully open a year later. To accommodate the flow of visitors, the surrounding area and roads are adding 1,500 more parking spaces and measures to control traffic.
Another report shared that, although Ghibli fans were surprised by the early opening, the “elevator tower’s operation commenced on March 23 as it’s part of the route to an ice-skating rink at the expo park.”
Do you plan to visit Ghibli Park?
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Credit: Disney
