Went during golden week, but not during the public holiday. Was expecting hordes of people so I arrived 30 minutes before opening. We bought rice balls from this shop at the station. There were already people queueing ahead of us but it didn’t pose a problem. Let the staff know that you’re a foreigner and they’ll let you do a health declaration. Since I bought my tickets on klook, I just had to scan the QR code to enter. I found out that there’s a cute physical ticket that you can get if you purchase on site though!
I’m an avid Sanrio lover and collector, while my partner is just alright with it.
The tip is to go straight for the boat ride to avoid a queue. There are 2 main rides, but the boat ride is way better and longer than my melody’s drive. Go down the stairway and it’ll be there on your left. They’ll snap a picture during the boat ride, so if you want to get a cute headband before that, do it at your risk! My melody’s drive also had multiple photo opportunities where they sell the picture to you.
There are many Sanrio shops located around, but the largest is the one on ground level when you enter the place on the right. There is also puroland exclusive merch, but those didn’t really appeal to us haha.
We didn’t eat there because the food looked cute, but a little unappetising (blue curry wasn’t really enticing to us). There is reentry so we just headed out to eat.
There are multiple shows throughout the day, but they are in Japanese. The performers are SO energetic it was honestly such a good vibe. I didn’t stay for the last 2 shows which I feel quite sad about because I believe the last show was like a disco rave. But each show has their own unique element to it and different parts of the park are illuminated. They also use Japanese at the level of a kindergartener so it’s not impossible to follow along if you have a basic understanding of the language/watch loads of anime.
In the center, there are also “activities” for you, like a gudetama love meter and a bell to ring for good luck. All of which were fun and highly enjoyable.
There was also a meet and greet event that I had to sign up in advance for. There are 4 characters or so throughout the day and you can head back with the QR code they give you.
Overall had a super pleasant time being in a space with Sanrio lovers. There are hardcore fans who are very interesting to be around, there are also photographers during the concert events, as well as people who dance along. Felt a bit like a kpop concert actually.
I’ve read reviews on google where people were disappointed with the number of rides the place had to offer. I personally felt like it was quite little too, but the other rooms and experiences made up for it. So one should adjust their expectations that this isn’t a typical theme park like USJ where it is ride-centric. But rather, it’s more about just going around the park to enjoy the attractions and take pictures! So I wouldn’t recommend it to people who are lukewarm about Sanrio, but people who are excited about it! Throughout the day I noticed the boat ride had a maximum waiting time of 1h-1h15min which is way shorter than what people on google reported: 2-3 hours of wait.
Was genuinely surprised considering it was golden week.
Feel free to read about the rest of my trip report [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/13i98yx/trip_report_japan_golden_week_30_apr_14_may_2023/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1)
As well as my trip report on USJ [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/13g1q0b/usj_trip_report_11_may_2023_thursday_with_queue/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)