So you've got an Grand O-Sanpo Day Pass to Ghibli Park, and you want to take full advantage of it. The park's a bit spread out, there are lines, and you only get 7 hours from open to close (8 on weekends) to get it all in. How do you go about it? Here's some tips based on my day in the park.
Get there at opening time regardless of what time your warehouse entry is for. Get some of the other areas done.
The furthest away area is Dondoko Forest, and there's a bus that runs there from near the park entrance regularly. Maybe start with that. (We didn't actually make it there due to losing time on other things. I bet Satsuki and Mei's House is super cool though.)
You can save about an hour if you don't need a picture with No-Face. No matter what time of day you get in the line, it'll take around an hour just to get that photo (unless you have a 10 o'clock entry time and manage to get in line for the warehouse by 9).
Lines for other photo ops around the warehouse tend to start shorter and get longer as more people arrive. The longest aside from No-Face seemed to be the Laputa robot and the "outdoor" Arrietty set with the oversized jars and flowers.
The Transcontinental Flight Café isn't worth it food-wise, and at lunchtime, you'll lose up to another hour in the line. Finish up with the warehouse and get your food from the food trucks outside. The food's great and there's no wait.
The line for check-out from the gift shop in the Warehouse seems long, but it moves pretty quickly. Nonetheless, most of the things I saw for sale there (aside from big ticket expensive items or items that say "Ghibli Park") are also available in other stores elsewhere. For instance, several of the items I saw there, I also saw at the Volks at Akihabara. There's no wait to look around, though.
The longest wait in Valley of Witches seems to be the photo op with Turnip Head in front of Howl's Castle. It is the best angle on the castle, but you can save up to a half-hour by skipping it. That's more time to explore the interiors of the three sets in this area, which are all worth taking your time with.
The only thing to do right now in Mononoke Village is the Gohei-mochi cooking experience. It takes about 20 minutes, and is definitely worth the time and the extra cost. Make sure to schedule it in.
The Hill of Youth is a bit hard to find. It's not visible from the entrance or the warehouse–it's in the trees next to the tall gothic Elevator Tower. Catch it on your way out.
If you're already in line for an area at closing time, they may be kind and let you in anyway. We saw a group of people being let into an area at 5pm when we were leaving. Don't count on it, though.
Note: I also made a guide for the basics of reading Japanese based on my travels last month specifically for you guys. For technical reasons (embedding of photos in the right places, etc.), I had to host it on my own site, which means now I can't actually share it with you without running afoul of rule 4. Anyway, feel free to DM me if you're interested in that.
by quintopia