Toei Park, or TOEI Kyoto Studio Park, is a fake old-fashioned town where period dramas are sometimes filmed. They bill themselves as the only Jidaigeki theme park in Kyoto. (And they are authentic enough that jigaideki filming takes place here.) The park clearly provides side work for make-up artists and stunt actors through the live shows and the dress-up-like-an-Edo-Period-person experience. The park reminded me of a Renaissance Faire— but Edo period.
I had a good impression of them from the beginning. Tickets without an attraction pass were JP¥2400 (~US$16.21 in 2023) per adult if in a group of 25 or fewer. We had purchased a set of 5 tickets. When we showed up with 4 people and explained that Person 5 was sick, the park insisted on immediately getting us a refund for the unused ticket.
The additional attraction pass was JP¥1600 (~US$10.81 in 2023). After walking around and viewing the free attractions, I thought the additional attraction pass could be worthwhile to get more out of the park and make it a more interactive experience. I purchased the attraction pass for JP¥1600, and it gave me a wristband to show I had tor right to access to 6 additional attractions. Had I purchased the “Admission ticket with attraction pass” option in the first place, it would have been JP¥3900 and I would have saved JP¥100. I was not too put out that I missed saving less than US$1, and I did have fun accessing the additional attractions.
Although few workers are confident in their English, they have pre-written cards and notes to show those who are not fluent in Japanese. However, it is important to note that some minor instructions are given in Japanese verbally. (One of the workers became visibly frustrated when he told my group to step onto the orange stripe and I was the only one who did that.)
A very popular Evangelion experience involved a quiz to see what character you are most like, sitting in the cockpit, and taking a picture on an enormous hand. You get one free souvenir picture per group of the group in front of the robot. The cockpit picture and the hand pictures must be purchased.
The live show we watched was the ninja show “Shinobi no Okite”, which is advertised as being about a “Great Swordsman VS Ninja”. They were rather athletic and did appear to have actual skills, which made for far better viewing than some supposed action shows do.
The haunted house (Attraction Pass) had an optional quest to remove a blindfold from a doll in a white kimono and put it in a different doll. They made sure to assure us multiple times that we would not be cursed if we failed to do the quest. My important note would be that the doll in the white kimono is human-sized.
The Ninja Mystery House (Attraction Pass) was very interactive and fun. The staff demonstrated some old-fashioned tricks and then let us loose to make our way. It was not a hard puzzle, but we were all quite giggly going through it. I went through this once alone and once with friends. This was also the attraction where the staff got annoyed that my friends were not moving to the correct stripe; the staff organizes guests into smaller groups to enter by having different groups stand on different-colored stripes.
I tried the laser field (Attraction Pass) alone and failed. I kept having to lift my skirt to get to the buttons. When we did it as a group of 3, it was considerably easier.
3D Maze – The Ninja Fort (Attraction Pass) was a large play castle with stairs and ropes and climbing and doors where one had to get 3 stamps was amusing. You could pick whether you wanted to get the Mind or the Strength stamps. When crowded, you do not have much of a choice in how fast you are going to go. This one was very popular with the school-aged kids.
I think I looked like I wanted to visit the Ninja Training Dojo Sword N’ Go (Attraction Pass), but it is only for children. Enough foreigners tried to go that the attendant had a small handwritten card explaining this and started calling that it was for children only when I walked too close to the entrance.
I did purchase time in their climbing area. It was my first time and I realized that it is not so much being high that makes me anxious but more the part where I fall. A friend with more experience in climbing noted that their catching ropes had more of a delay before catching than some of the other places he has been at in the past.
When you are tired of the heat, you can visit the large indoor air-conditioned shopping area to buy some souvenirs. There are the standard boxes of biscuits, a lot of masks, some Evangelion-themed things, and just about every knick-knack vaguely related to the Edo Period that a tourist has seen sold elsewhere.
If you enjoy history, it is a fun little place to walk through a staged village. Just keep in mind that some of what you can see is definitely made up.
