Nostalgia Con touches down at the Orange County Convention Center for a three-day run from Friday, August 7, through Sunday, August 9, with tickets ranging from $29 to $205. The lineup leans hard on 1990s and early-2000s pop culture, pairing Full House alums John Stamos, Jodie Sweetin and Lori Loughlin with pro wrestling legend Mick Foley.
As reported by Orlando Weekly, the convention sets up at the Orange County Convention Center's 9800 International Drive address as part of a traveling franchise that moves between cities throughout the year. Beyond the Full House trio and Foley, the guest list includes Power Rangers alums Steve Cardenas and Karan Ashley, Adult Swim's Matthew Jenkins, and a roster of voice actors and animation professionals. The outlet notes the mix is aimed squarely at pop-culture-savvy millennials and younger Gen Xers who grew up on the shows and wrestling storylines now filling the convention floor.
Wrestling Icon Mick Foley Steps Into Free Agency
Foley, known to wrestling fans by his ring personas Cactus Jack and Mankind, arrives at Nostalgia Con as a free agent for the first time in three decades. He officially ended his 30-year merchandising relationship and Legends contract with WWE in July, according to Wrestling News, after announcing in December 2025 that he would not re-sign because of political objections to WWE parent company TKO's ties to Donald Trump.
Nostalgia Con's Four-City Run Through the Fall
Orlando is just one stop on Nostalgia Con's 2026 circuit. The touring convention franchise heads to Minneapolis in September, Houston in October, and Fort Worth in December, according to Nostalgia Con's event schedule.
Running a multi-day convention takes a small army, and Nostalgia Con leans on a tiered volunteer program to help staff it. Per Eventeny, volunteers need a minimum six-hour commitment to earn event access, while those who work 20-plus-hour shifts receive authenticated signed art prints from the convention's vault.
Sunday's Kids Day Waives Admission for Children
Families get a break on the final day. Organizers designated Sunday, August 9, as "Kids Day," offering free admission for children 12 and under, while kids six and under get in free all three days, according to Nostalgia Con.
A Nostalgia Boom Feeds the Convention Business
The stakes for hosting events like Nostalgia Con are considerable for the Orange County Convention Center, the second-largest convention facility in the United States. The complex spans 2.1 million square feet of exhibit space within 7 million total square feet, generating an estimated $2.4 billion to $3 billion in annual economic impact for Central Florida, according to the Orange County Convention Center.
Fan conventions like this one are also riding a broader industry surge. The global fan conventions market was valued at $14.8 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $30.2 billion by 2034, growing at an 8.2% annual rate, with North America accounting for more than 41% of total revenue, per Dataintelo.
That growth is tied to a larger pop culture economy built on nostalgia. The global pop culture market is estimated at $266 billion in 2026 and is forecast to expand to $490 billion by 2033, driven by fandom-led commerce and cross-generational merchandise spending, according to Future Data Stats.
OCCC's Calendar Shifts as Legal Fights Loom
Nostalgia Con's arrival comes as the venue's event mix keeps shifting. The National Association of Home Builders announced in July that it will permanently relocate its International Builders' Show — which brought nearly 117,000 attendees to the convention center in 2026 — to Las Vegas starting in 2027, as Hoodline previously reported. That departure follows a pattern in which mid-sized fan conventions, including the recent Animate! Orlando anime convention, increasingly fill the calendar left behind by exiting trade shows.
Those departures come even as Orange County's lodging tax revenue keeps setting records. County officials reported Tourist Development Tax collections of $35.3 million for January 2026, marking ten consecutive months of historic bed-tax revenue driven in part by robust convention center event volume, Hoodline reported in March.
The convention center is also fighting a $560 million lawsuit filed by developer Universal City Property Management III LLC, with a circuit court trial scheduled for 2026 to decide whether a 1998 land covenant can block the center's planned Phase 5A expansion, according to Hoodline's earlier coverage. Against that backdrop of legal and business turbulence, mid-sized fandom gatherings like Nostalgia Con have become an increasingly important part of keeping the venue's calendar full.
