Yamacon has quickly become one of those events that I tend to at least spend a day at because it’s always leads to a lot of fun. It’s a two hour drive for me and it’s near some of my favorite attractions in Pigeon Forge. Which is exactly how I ended up attending Yamacon once again this year so lets look at how things went this time.

Starting with the guests they had the Johnny Young Bosch and Paul St. Peter returning. At this point it just wouldn’t feel like Yamacon without them. You also had Ricco Fajardo, Dani Chambers, Todd Haberkorn and a few more. As always it’s a small but nice array of guests and they are fairly easy to meet. Johnny always has his massive line and with a couple of exceptions everyone else was pretty easy to get to. I was there for Dani and I walked right up and got my autograph really easily. I even went and spent a minute talking with Ricco. It’s one of the things I like about this event is just how accessible it’s guests are. It’s a great way to get a chance to talk with them without having to worry about a line of people waiting on you.

Panels were also interesting. Now I’ll admit this isn’t an event where I’m all that focused on attending panels but there were some good ones. You had an education panel about how to write your name in Japanese. Panels about kimonos along with your standard panels featuring Q and As with the guests. Plus I love how close the panel rooms are to the vendors hall making it easy to go back and forth throughout the day.

The vendors were also nice. It featured most of the vendors I’ve seen here before and Yamacon tends to bring back a lot of the same vendors year after year. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing as they do have a great selection. I even found some Fire Emblem art, pins and a Snorlax hat. So you do have new vendors mixed in as well. The main thing here is if you enjoyed your shopping experience in previous years or have never been here before it’s a great place to shop. However, if you’re a regular looking for something new that is a hard thing to find here. I had a great time shopping but I can see how the consistency could deter some repeat attendees.

You also have an incredible game room right beside the vendors hall featuring a wide variety of arcade and board games. It’s a great way to pass the time if you’re looking for something to do. This is also something I don’t spend a lot of time at here because of where the convention is located.

So one of the things I like most about Yamacon is the location. It’s in December at the Leconte Center in Pigeon Forge, TN. So it’s very close to a place called The Island which is a great place to spend a day at on it’s own and it’s beautifully decorated for Christmas. Which is also why I rarely spend time outside of vendors and guests at Yamacon because I personally think the best experience here is to balance time between the nearby attractions and the convention. Yamacon on it’s own offers a fun experience but one that doesn’t take a long time to do. Normally it’s something I would critique a bit but Yamacon uniquely benefits from that because it means you can do everything you want to at the convention and spend some time at the local attractions and really get a fun day or even a weekend.

The only real critique I have is that because it’s so quick to do everything here I don’t see any real need to buy a weekend pass. I think it makes for a wonderful day trip and as long as it stays the same it will continue to be.

Yamacon really didn’t change things up for 2024 and honestly that doesn’t bother me a bit. It’s a smaller con that on it’s own doesn’t take long to do everything you want to do unless you’re looking to do a lot of panels. It’s mainly an event that I personally go to for specific guests and to hangout with friends before spending time at The Island. It’s a low stress event that makes me feel good attending because I don’t worry about not getting the experience I came for. Because it’s consistently easy to do everything I want to do at the convention. That leaves me plenty of time to do some other fun stuff in the city it makes Yamacon a wonderful event.