Information for the annual Winter Wonderland at Moominvalley Park in Hanno, Saitama Prefecture. However in the winter of 2025 / 2026, they are doing things quite differently. This year they are starting the Winter Wonderland after a separate, new Christmas event.
In 2018 when Metsa Village was only newly opened it created a name for itself with its highly successful Digitized Lakeside and Forest in collaboration with TeamLab. In 2019 they introduced the equally magical and just as successful Winter Wonderland event. And good news for fans – that event is back since 2023 after a temporary change to another illumination event during the pandemic.
(1)Metsa is the collaborative name for both the free park “Metsa Village” and the charged theme park “Moominvalley Park”. Metsa Village opened in November 2018, and Moominvalley park only opened in 2019. The Winter Wonderland event is in the area you have to pay into.
Winter Wonderland
This year is another luminary surprise that, like last year, uses light and projection mapping with music to create a fantasy dream world. But this year it starts much later and ends much later too – from Friday December 26th 2025 to public holiday February 23rd 2026. You can enjoy winter only scenery both by day and night. However, the park only opens until 5 pm on weekdays and until 7 pm on weekends and public holidays. There will also be greeting time with the Moomin character Moran for the winter period only. Moreover, this year they will have both an ice rink and a snow play. They will have fireworks too.
During the day you can enjoy the winter vibes and at night the vivid lights great a magical night. During the period of the event they will have a balloon sky, much like the one they have annually in Autumn, only the colors are winter colors. Moreover, the balloons will be lit up after dark. However, the highlight for many is the projection mapping. In addition, they have a lantern road, a winter carnival, a path of seasons, glimmering trees and a snow globe effect at the lighthouse. And this year they have new features;
Snow play
There are two different areas where you can play with snow. The “Yuki asobi hiroba” (snow play field) and the “sori asobi hiroba” (sleigh play area). You don’t need to bring a sled with you, they have the available to borrow for no extra charge.
Ice rink
The period of the skate rink has been extended several times due to popular demand. They no longer give an end date, but presumably it will be when Winter Wonderland is over…
Fireworks
There is a mini fireworks display, about 5 minutes, on select dates from 6 pm, except on February 23rd and 28th when they will be on at 6.50 pm. From February 7th the fireworks will be sakura themed. Dates:
- Daily from December 26th to 30th
- Daily from January 2nd to 12th
- January 17th, 18th, 24th, 25th and 31st
- February 1st, 7th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 15th, 21st to 23rd, 28th
Even more special events
Furthermore, for the last two weeks of this event, they will have ice tulips in Moominvalley park. AND they will start their sakura light up. Both start on Saturday February 7th 2026.
Information
Event: Winter Wonderland in Moominvalley Park
Dates: from December 26th 2025 to public holiday February 23rd 2026
Times: base hours are from 10 am to 5 pm on weekdays and until 7 pm on weekends with lights on from 5 pm. Fireworks at 6 pm.
Cost: It is advised you buy the tickets online in advance, because they 400 yen cheaper for adults. A one day pass bought in advance costs 3900 yen for an adult and 1000 yen for a child. The night pass costs 2300 yen for all (adult or child) when bought in advance or 2500 yen on the day.
Access
Moominvalley Park is only about 10 minutes by car from the Sayama Hidaka Interchange of the Keno expressway. Unfortunately since April 1st 2023 you now have to pay for parking on weekdays again (it was free during the pandemic). It costs 1000 yen on weekdays, but the first two hours are free. On the weekend the price has actually come down. Since 2023, it costs 1500 yen for parking on a Saturday or Sunday, there are no free hours. A bus goes to Metsa (within which Moominvalley park is located) from Seibu Ikebukuro Line’s Hanno Station.
Images from the official site.
For more winter and illumination events in Saitama, please see the main events category.
Editor’s note; In 2018 when Metsa Village was only newly opened it created a name for itself with its highly successful Digitized Lakeside and Forest in collaboration with TeamLab. But that was the only year of that event. This post was temporarily removed from the blog during the pandemic. It was republished on October 16th 2023 with Winter Wonderland information. Last update February 5th 2026.