I am a big fan....so we spend half a day there. We had afternoon tea at the little cafe. The coffee photo I shown....is the cup of coffee I had there....I loved it so much.
The gift shop is not big....but if U are a big fan like me....then you can spend hours there.
Last time I bought the tickets in HK @ JAL Select .
I did not really if there is any price difference. According to the web is guarantee entrance (in case,it was a holiday and tickets are sold out).
Sorry, I have never been there. I am a big big fan of宮崎駿 particular totoro...All 宮崎駿 cartoons I had seen them million of times. And I have a lot of totoro stuff at home.