FFXIV FanFest 2026!!
I was lucky enough to be able to go to the NA Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival for 2026!!!! And of course I took my partner, Goolloom, as my plus one.
I am here to slap in all the photos from the trip and write a quick blog about it :D
For reference, I was born and raised in Southern California. I've taken Gool to Anaheim twice by now, so I was very excited when FFXIV announced that Fanfest was taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center. I've actually tabled at this building before for Anime Impulse OC back in 2023, I was excited to see how they've set up the place! (I've said I was excited twice now.. I am no writer, just trust that I was indeed very excited)
Day Zero !!
(Thursday)
We woke up early for registration, and there was already a line forming!! We secured our goodie bags and I took photo of the G'raha Tia door LOL
We had time to kill while we waited for our merch time slot on Thursday, so we went to Downtown Disney to browse the World of Disney store and grab some ice cream.
Inside the sticker book that came with the swag bags! We also got some surprise trading cards (seen in the first image). We got Estinien and Tataru!! I'm so excited to put these in my journal.
Day One & Two !!!!!!
(Friday & Saturday)
The keynote was SO LOUD AND HYPE!! We had some unforunate seating situation where everyone was standing the moments the lights went dim and the Evercold trailer dropped, I'm thankful that I was able to see through the crowd and caught the glimpse of the mysterious NPCs... Lizard gothic expansion... This is everything I could ever want, I'm so ready!!!!!
Jollie Bee Lovely and Moogle!! My Filipinio-self had to get this photo with the JollieBee mascot and this amazing cosplayer!! I soon found their instagram account too, it's SO cute and they did such a wonderful job!
I had ran into the moogle during PAX West, but didn't get the chance to take a photo with them so I needed this photo too.
The pink skirt I wore for day 1, and the yellow outfit I wore for day 2. My day 1 outfit was basically my Renaissance Faire kit, because where else would I wear it outside of the Faire? I opted for something comfy for day 2.
These Ancient cosplays were so awesome, I wanted to ask for a photo with them. I asked Gool to take Harold (our yellow pikmin son), and one of the Ancients asked if he could hold our pikmin. I happily said yes and now we got this cute photo.
silly msPaint doodle after our friend said that Harold is now an Ancient One.
Giant WoL Sticker trade haul and organizing!! And my own personal merch haul!
I actually prepared 5 gifts to hand out:
One for my friend and moot, Iso/Gatorade, who raided UwU with us! It was so nice to meet them in person!!!! It's always so fun to see online friends in-person for the first time, you never know what to expect. I always get nervous meeting someone, and Iso was no exception. They were so sweet and we traded stickers and gifts.
I was able to meet Vulpixie in person and Shenpai in her tablet form. I was honestly SO nervous, I was shaking like crazy, but they were really sweet and fun to talk to. I think I blanked out, but I remember laugh a lot and sharing how Gool was my chocobo saddlebag for the day. I would've gone on about how much they both impacted my creative process and how fun it was to watch their journey through FFXIV, but I didn't want to take too much of their time, so I asked for a silly Vtuber photo and went about our day.
We had found Denmo day 1 at the mahjong tables! I gifted him his painting and keychain and he immediately opened up his sticker trade to hand me many of his iconic ffxiv muppets!! He seemed pretty occupied so I (again) went about my day and didn't want to take up too much of his time).
And finally JoCat!!!!! We met him and his wife, Echo too oh my god they were so lovely and sweet. I gifted him the present and as I was about to say "I don't want to take too much of your time" they asked if we wanted to take a photo!!! (cries) It was such a nice gesture, of course I said yes. I shared this meet with my D&D friends soon after, since we had all discovered his content through the Crap Guide series. Such an icon!
Monday
We rested and attempted to go to a FFXIV Cupsleeve event on Sunday, but it was overcrowded so we did our best to rest before meeting with my family for dinner on Sunday.
For Monday, we went to my favorite place, Requiem Cafe! I'm so happy this place survived the pandemic, I remember ordering through DoorDash so that they can keep afloat. Now they host all these awesome collabs and continue to provide a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community.
We actually got 4 drinks: The Manderville Man (spiced cinnamon apple tea), Fat Cat Latte (caramel mocha cold brew latte), the Tank Stance (blueberry drink, in image), and the Healer Check (melon soda drink, in image). Had a silly conversation with the owner about being Egg-pilled with my egg hair clip and egg wallet. There was chalk drawings all over the sidewalk, and someone even wrote the entire Gaius "for whom do you fight" dialogue across 5 sticky notes on the wall.
Overall, a wonderful, Final Fantasy XIV filled weekend with my favorite person in the world. He is now my forever person.
After 7 years together, Gool and I are now engaged c:
