Danica Davidson
January 27, 2022 
The Ghibli Park, which Aichi prefecture first said they’d make in 2017, is going to have its grand opening this November! Two videos courtesy of the Aichi Tourism Bureau have been released. The first is a teaser trailer.
The second trailer is more than four minutes long.
The Giant Ghibli Warehouse (Ghibli no Daisōko in Japanese), Hill of Youth (Seishun no Oka) and Dondoko Forest (Dondoko Mori) will all be there and ready November 1. But that won’t be the end of the park. Mononoke Village (Mononoke no Sato) and Kiki’s Delivery Service’s Witch Valley (Majo no Tani Area) are scheduled to be added next year.
The Dondoko Forest will have My Neighbor Totoro’s path and shrine, plus a Totoro playground statue that’s about 17 feet tall. It’s hollow so kids will be able to crawl inside.
The Giant Ghibli Warehouse is going to be more than two acres in size, and will be about four times bigger than the Ghibli Museum building.
You’ll also be able to see an airship from Castle in the Sky, which will be approximately 21 feet long. And the Witch’s Valley, in addition to being dedicated to Kiki, will also have the house from Earwig and the Witch. In addition to that, there will be a restaurant (probably with specially themed food, but those details have yet to be announced).
Construction started in 2020. 1,500 parking spots are being made for visitors, and they’re guessing about one million people will come at first. After the whole park is complete, they estimate 1.8 million people will visit each year. They’re hoping to get tourists both from Japan and from overseas. The Aichi prefecture has put aside more than $300 million to build this park, and is working closely with Studio Ghibli.
Are you interested in visiting?
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
