Taiyou Con 2024 Highlights + Review!

We are a family that enjoys cosplaying, so it is a no brainer that we enjoy visiting Animie & Cosplay conventions when they pop-up near us. Earlier this month we attended Taiyou Con which is an anime convention that happens at the start of every year. It was held at the Mesa Convention Center; this was my first year attending Taiyou Con & Also the first time I've been inside the Mesa Convention Center. The parking situation was fantastic compared to other conventions we've attended; the parking was included with your ticket & they had parking on site or close parking garages depending on your preference. We arrived shortly after it opened & we had no problem finding a spot to park. Getting out tickets, going through prop check & bad check was a breeze we had everything taken care of & were inside within five minutes of arriving. I really enjoyed all of the cherry blossom trees & decorations that had both outside the convention center & inside. Tickets for this event ranged from $35-$50 for a single day pass or you could get a multiday pass for a discounted price. For a convention this is a good price especially since you get an actual badge once you arrive to the convention & it covers parking as well. 

Inside of the convention center is where the majority of the events were taking place. Some conventions can be a bit confusing when trying to figure out what is going on event wise, when & where. Thankfully Taiyou Con had a phone app you could download that had schedules for all three days of the event along with where it was taking place, a map of the convention & more. I liked using the app, it was extremely helpful when it came to pre-planning our day before even arriving to the convention. The app also allowed you to add the panels you were interested in attending to a schedule & it would remind you of that panel fifteen minutes before it was due to begin so you didn't miss it. Now that we have the basic convention information out of the way, let's get down to what all we did, take a look at some of the cosplays we saw & go over a spot that could use just a slight improvement. 

Overall, we had a fantastic time at Taiyou Con, I think the only area we thought could use a slight improvement was the number & type of panels there were each day of the event. I hadn't attended last year, but my husband & daughter had gone, and they had more panels that included things like specific anime Kahoots quizzes. This portion of the convention does also heavily rely on the number of participants who sign up to host a panel, game, etc. I think it would be fun to host a panel or put on a fandom-based quiz/game for cosplayers to participate in. It may be something I look into doing next year. If panels aren't your thing & you are wanting to meet some of the voices behind your favorite characters, they had quite a few voice actors singing autographs & taking photos with fans. The price for a autograph or photo ranged from guest to guest, some even had the option to have them customize a recording for you, how neat would that be? 

The sellers' market was set up nicely, I found that it was easy to navigate through & even with the amount of people at the convention you were able to browse the stalls at your own pace. There was a nice mixture of small hand-made sellers alongside re-sellers & a few slightly larger businesses that came to the market. Included in one of the market sections were a few cosplayers signing photos & talking with everyone. While I do enjoy other aspects of cosplay & anime conventions, I would have to say that the market area is probably my favorite spot to visit. I always love looking through all of the goods & finding some new favorite items to take home. None of us left empty handed, we all found something we purchased to bring home. Some of the sellers even had fun mystery games you could play, and mystery bags that could be purchased! At one of the booths, they had one of those "Let's go fishing" board games where you hook a fish using a magnet. Each fish had a number on it that let you know what kind of prize you won. Below is a photo of all the loot we ended up bringing home;

While browsing the shops, it also gives you an up-close chance to check out everyone's cosplays. There were tons of fantastic cosplays, many of which I recognized & some I didn't. We saw great group cosplays like the One Piece Straw Hats crew & matching family cosplays like The Incredibles along with tons of stand-alone cosplays. As for us, my husband went as Kenny Ackerman from Attack on Titan, I went as Hange from Attack on Titan in her commander outfit, my son went as Sanz from Undertale & my daughter went as Shanks from One Piece. Here is a look at some of the awesome cosplays we came across, do you recognize any of the characters below??

If you get hungry, no need to worry, you have plenty of options! There were food trucks, vendors with snacks & a spot inside where they serve food. There are also vending machines or because you are allowed to leave and come back in, you could either bring food to have a small picnic outside or grab food nearby. The prices all ranged but there was something for everyone's budget & there are some neat dishes to try out. My son has been wanting to try boba tea, so he was happy there was a stand selling some for him to try. In the middle of the food area, you'll find a DJ booth & dance floor, there was a DJ playing while we were eating lunch & there were several people out on the dance floor having a great time. It really added to the whole experience & it was fun watching everyone have a good time dancing. I also appreciated that they had plenty of seating in the food area, it wasn't hard to find a spot to sit down in the shade to enjoy our meal before heading to check out more shops and panels.  This convention was very family friendly & we all felt comfortable, relaxed and happy with our experience at Taiyou Con. 

Have you ever been to an Animie or Cosplay Convention? Does this sound or look like an event you would enjoy attending?? What character would you want to cosplay as for an event like this???

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" (Click or locate it on the right-hand side of my page) section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. This was not a sponsored review, we paid to get into the zoo ourselves. I enjoy being able to share spots like this with my readers who may not be able to visit in person but are still interested in learning more about these spots, or for anyone planning vacations in the area. 

Disclaimer- Taiyou Con provided me with two passes to the con for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase or attending an event.