DragonCon 2025

Hallway photo by moments_converged

DragonCon quickly became my favorite convention for cosplay after I attended for the first time in 2022. DragonCon is like a huge family, and everyone I have met there has been so awesome! This was our 4th year in a row going to DragonCon. My mom accompanied me again this year, and we had such a blast. 

Click here for my Dragon Con 2025 Vlog over on my YouTube channel!

Because of our work schedules, we usually can't make it to DragonCon until Friday night. So as soon as we were able to escape work on Friday, we loaded up the car and drove from Tennessee to Atlanta, Georgia. My mom drove us so that I could assemble some swag bags on the drive down. We arrived at our hotel around 10:00pm and got settled in. We haven't ever stayed in a host hotel, but we like to try and stay at hotels nearby so that we can walk over to the con space each day. And as usual, I had to add a small finishing touch to one of my cosplays for the next morning! 

Saturday

We woke up Saturday morning and got into our first cosplays of the con: Doctor Strange and Doctor Christine Palmer!

We walked over to the con space, which only took about 10-15 minutes from our hotel. We headed straight to the badge pickup line and hit the line right at the start of the parade, so the wait time was not too bad to get our badges. It only took us 26 minutes from getting in line to receiving our badges. We walked back to catch a little bit of the parade, but not long after, I realized that my thrifted boots were falling apart!! The entire heel and sole of my right boot had separated from the shoe and was flapping around as I walked... I guess that's just more evidence as to why you need to wear your cosplay shoes around some before the con! I never would have imagined the entire sole would come off. 😅 Fortunately, DragonCon has an official CosplAid station for emergency cosplay repair. This was my first time having to use cosplay medic services, and they really saved me! We were able to use some contact cement to reattach the shoe sole, and they even gave me a tiny tube of E6000 to carry with me in case I needed to fix it up again later. Fortunately, the contact cement held enough for me to wear the cosplay for most of the day, but I will definitely have to get some new shoes for the next time I wear my Doctor Strange. 

We then headed over to do a photoshoot with Amanda Swanson Photography, which has become a DragonCon tradition for me. This was my 3rd DragonCon in a row working with Amanda, and she is so amazing to work with! 

This shoot was so much fun, and I am so excited to see the results. I will come back and add some to this post once I get some back!

We wandered around for a bit that morning, ran into some friends, popped into a panel with the cast from Bones, and stopped by the Con Suite for some snacks. 

Daredevil: turbo_nerd_

 

Star Wars Rebel Fleet Trooper: pugs501

Bones cast

We headed back over to our hotel around 5:00 and had some dinner before changing into our evening outfits. For Saturday night, my mom and I participated in a group cosplay. This was my first ever group cosplay, and it ended up being one of the most amazing experiences. 

Oh yeah... and it was a MASSIVE group! 

Photo taken by Aleexandra Lane Studios

We had over 50 people participate in a Miss Congeniality group cosplay, complete with our own announcer, Stan. It was so hard to cram all of us into a space to fit for a photo, but Alexandra Lane Studios did great with the space we had available! This group was organized by a few awesome cosplayers (jedimanda, yettie_cos, and lunar.lyn) who set up a group Discord for us to communicate, plan, and help each other. This Discord group was so fun to be a part of, and all of the members were so helpful, kind, and supportive. 

I made an outfit for both me and my mom so that we could participate in this group together. 

Dresses and state props handmade by me. Crowns assembled from a template created by downen_creative_studios. Stan: downenphotography.

We had such a blast traveling around with this group on Saturday night of con. Seeing the reactions of all of the con goers as they realized that our train of lady liberties just kept going was so funny! Everyone loved this group, and there has been so much interest that I think it will be happening again next year. 

  

Photo by downenphotography

My feet were killing me throughout the second half of the day, though, because for some reason I thought it was a good idea to wear cosplays with heels all day on Saturday for the 17,000 steps we walked that day. If you see me in some of the videos from this night, you might notice I am carrying my shoes. 😆 

Here is a photo from where we ran into realm.of.amber and her family right before we left to go back to the hotel... no shoes in sight 😂

 We made it to our hotel and got in bed around midnight so that we could rest up for the next day.

Sunday

We slept in on Sunday until probably around 8:00, then got up to get into our cosplays for the morning. I had put together a Peggy Carter cosplay with some up-cycled pieces that I found, and my mom put together an outfit that was not a specific character but was inspired by Renaissance Faire outfits. 

Thanks, Mom, for always catching these random candid shots 😂

We headed straight over to the Marriott to do a photoshoot on the 10th floor with benderlens, whom I have worked with several times now outside of cons, and always have a great time working with!

After the photoshoot, we wandered around for a while, ran into some more friends, grabbed a quick bite to eat, went to a few panels, and checked out the costume exhibit.

Sugarplum Fairy: amelia_loves_halloween

Snacking on food from a pop-up stand of Aviva by Kameel, a DragonCon staple!

yayahan's panel on taking your own cosplay photos

Cast of Psych! 🍍

Inside the Costume Exhibit

After the costume exhibit, we headed back to the hotel around 5:00 to get some dinner, give our feet a break, and change into our evening outfits. 

My mom took off a layer from her outfit for the evening, and I changed into my Shego cosplay that I threw together from a workout set I thrifted that I felt totally gave Shego vibes. 

Sunday evening consisted of a night photoshoot with bigduo84, lots more wandering around, and running into more friends!

Karen: realm.of.amber

Mandalorian: maximum.khanage

We headed back to our hotel around 10:30 and crashed for the night. 

Monday

Monday morning, we thought about making a trip over to the vendor hall after we checked out of our hotel, but we decided to just skip that this year and were ready to head on home. 

I think this year was one of my favorite DragonCon's so far! Now that I have been cosplaying and active in the cosplay community online for a few years, I have started to get to know several of my online friends a lot better. Getting to meet up with so many of my friends this year was definitely a highlight of my year. And of course, the massive Miss Congeniality group cosplay was a big highlight as well, and a fun memory I will never forget. As soon as the con ended for this year, I went ahead and purchased my membership for 2026! See you again next year, Atlanta!