Venue: Sanrio Puroland When: Sep 14th - Oct 31st 2018 ,  10:00am - 5:00pm

To celebrate Halloween, Sanrio Puroland has taken on a spooky twist. Many of the attractions and décor have embraced this once a year holiday, giving visitors a chance to celebrate Halloween with their favorite characters (including the beloved Hello Kitty).

My first stop was the Sanrio Character boat ride. The day time ride is incredibly cute, with Sanrio Characters at every twist and turn. Memorabilia photos are also available, and like me you can opt for a Halloween Themed Sanrio character frame to mark the occasion. However, come late afternoon/early evening the ride transforms from an adorable to downright scary as you can have a go at riding it in complete darkness. As cute as all the Sanrio characters are, there is something eerie about seeing them glare at you in the dark. There are also other surprises when you opt for the evening ride, so beware if you are faint-hearted. The ~My Melody & Kuromi~ Mymeroad Drive ride is also a must see. This car ride guides you through the life story of Sanrio’s My Melody. Since Hello Kitty is the only Sanrio character that is popular in my home country, I found it a very informing experience learning about Sanrio’s other characters. Next I grabbed my Gudetama Passport and headed over to the over to Gudetama Land. In order to enter you need your special Gudetama Passport, which allows you play a variety of Gudetama-themed interactive games.

Although my gaming skills were less than stellar, I enjoyed playing games with the unusual but incredibly cute egg-themed character (my new-found fondness of my yolky friend resulted in the purchase of a really cool Gudetama mechanical pencil in the gift shop later). Whilst there are multiple places to eat inside the park, I chose the Character Food Court on the 1^st floor. There are also Halloween options on the menu, but the Cinnamonroll-themed curry caught my eye as the color of the curry was blue! The food was so cute and well-presented that I almost felt bad about eating it (although the flavor was delicious).

At Lady Kitty House, you can explore Hello Kitty’s very own pink house before taking a photo with Hello Kitty herself at the end. After meeting Hello Kitty, I next got to see her performance in the Miracle Gift Parade. The parade made the most of cool light displays and included creative costume design and impressive choreography by some very talented dances. Sanrio Puroland holds a variety of parades, and I was lucky to also catch another one later that afternoon. The later one was completely Halloween themed, and featured Cinnamoroll as the star. For those interested in the traditional side of Japan, there is also a Kabuki show. Kawaii Kabuki features a wide range of Sanrio characters and tells the tale of the fairytale Momotaro.

If you want to take a break from enjoying the attractions and shows, the Cinnamoroll Dream Cafe is highly recommended. The cafe offers an a wide-range of Cinnamoroll themed sweets and drinks. The delicious cake I chose was a Halloween-exclusive and was Murasaki Imo (purple sweet potato) flavored. Lastly, no visit to Sanrio Puroland is completed without a visit to the gift shop. Most of the characters have their own independent gift-shop, so if you have a favorite character then heading to their gift shop first is the best idea. There is also a giant gift shop near the entrance, that sells everything from Sanrio Character o-bento boxes to even suitcases.
With Halloween right around the corner, why not spend a fun-filled day at Puro Halloween?
 

Getting there

Six minute walk from Tama Center Station, on the Keio-Sagamihara Line and Odakyu-Tama Line, which is about 30 minutes from Shinjuku by train.