This year, I was lucky enough to secure another tea party ticket and headed to LA for the second time in my life to attend Dolls Party in LA 6! Learning from my mistakes last time, I planned my weekend more carefully and even invited a non-doller friend, to get a lot more out of my trip and minimize downtime.
Well, it was certainly a weekend far too short for all of the excitement that it had to offer! I'll try recount everything I did this weekend aside from just Dolpa. I'm starting with Friday, the day before festivities started, so scroll down a bit for dolls.
Pre-Party
SEP 04 2026
I had a direct flight into LAX and landed around 4PM. I met up with my friend (a layman, so for privacy I'll call her Suzanne). LAX was a nightmare to escape, but we made it to the taxi/rideshare lot and took a taxi to the hotel. Now, I had this issue last year but if you tell a taxi driver you want to go to Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach, the literal legal full government name of the hotel, sometimes the taxi driver will be confused. They will say “Torrance or Redondo Beach, which one?” Last Dolpa, I just got a different taxi who did recognize the hotel, but this year our taxi driver had no issue once we gave him the address. He got us to the hotel without issue, but he did have a mild crashout when the card reader froze up, so be sure to carry cash with you.
It's a pretty nice hotel, by the way! Clean, beds are comfortable. The only major issue is that the fire alarm(?) blinks a white light every couple of minutes and you can see it through your eyelids.
Anyway, we unpacked and walked about 10 minutes to The Hula Hula Room, a quaint little tiki bar that was actually pretty lively. I just had a mocktail, but the music wasn't too loud and neither were the patrons, so it was a nice place to catch up and chat since Suzanne and I haven't seen each other in person since April!
After that, we were going to go to the ramen place next door but it was closing by the time we were ready to leave. So we were going to go to Din Tai Fung instead but the mall closes before the restaurants do. So... back to the hotel! We sat outside and hung out a bit more, the weather was very pleasant. But Marugame would have also been a good choice, I recommend it to anyone who wants quick, filling udon for a good price and doesn't have a Marugame in their area.
Tea Party
SEP 05 2026
Tea Party Day!!! The biggest event of Dolpa is of course the tea party. This year, they split up standard badge pickup and tea party pickup, so we went to stand in line early to get our badges and have the rest of the day to ourselves until tea party badge pickup. We picked up our badges at the registration desk past the elevators, the same place as LA Dolpa 5. We got there a little after 10AM, and there was already a line. But once it started moving, it was pretty quick. We received our Day 2 lottery tickets at that time as well.
Well, of course we had some time to kill until the tea party, so we headed to the mall! The easiest way from the hotel is through Nordstrom. I didn't really properly browse the mall last Dolpa because it's really big, but this year Suzanne and I really kind of made an effort to see every inch. Our main goal was Mitsuwa, but we stopped at other places along the way. There's actually a lot of stores not worth anyone's time but we did stop by both Book Offs. I hadn't realized there were actually two, or maybe the outlet opened at some point in the last two years, but Suzanne got a nice little stack of books for $1 each.
I'll skip over the other little stops we made but we did lose track of time and still didn't see everything! I quickly texted hat if she could save Suzanne and I seats. But the line was already huge before the doors opened at 3AM, and by the time we got to it, it was still quite long! The tea party was held in a different room this year, and there was a different registration desk to pick up your wristband and raffle ticket. My impression is that this room was a bit smaller, and I did not like having to pick up two different tickets for essentially the same event. I think this was a waste of time and just created a lot of uneccessary waiting in line.
Luckily the seats were saved though! Hat bit anyone who came near. We sat with Sam #1, Linus, hat, and some other people. Really it was a really nice group! I saw Hina and felt like I met a celebrity. Hat was running around so I saw her later and it was just so cool! Always make an effort to meet your nettomos!!!
I met a celebrity!
The food at the tea party was admittedly a bit disappointing. They had finger sandwiches again of course, still unlabeled, which makes it highly unappealing to just pick one up and try it. Suzanne got one and could not tell if it was chicken or tuna! The scones were ok, but the petit fours were good. I only had a petit four, half of a scone, and some fruit. I wish they served something a little more exciting than hotel tea bags but ah oh well! No one was there for the food.
One-Offs
The last several batches of one-offs have been quite boring lately. Faceup-wise, I thought these would be no exception. They're a lot more beautiful in person though, I think they really shine in the right environment and when you can see all of the details of their clothes!
very handsome Ludo!!! he was my favorite~
Dollfie Customize Contest
I really enjoyed everyone's customized dolls! I think this year's theme was much more of a hit than last LA Dolpa, because most dolls stuck pretty close to the theme. There's always a few outliers (or perhaps dolls just in it for the prize lol), but it's clear everyone put in a genuine effort.
this Marie Antionette was on a rotating platform, unfortunately was not enough to take home the big prize!
VOLKS Stage Raffle
So! Of course, the main reason we go to the tea party is for the raffle prizes! This year, perhaps they had some feedback or was just feeling generous, but there were no wigs or fragile pleather prizes. They brought a ton of tenshi and komame plush! All of the winners were so excited, and Sam #1 won her beloved komame!
Unfortunately, there were no major announcements, sneak peeks, or insider knowledge given at this tea party, and the speeches given by staff were a little reused from last Dolpa. But that's ok! The atmosphere was wonderful, and everyone was having a good time. Even Suzanne was enjoying herself, soaking in everyone else's excitement. There was also an opportunity to take a photo with the staff on stage as a nice souvenir. Most people handed over phones, but I had them take it on my Instax mini Evo!
Anyway, hat had an important Williams-related mission in mind but I'm sure it's in her report. We also took the table decorations. Upon exiting the tea party, everyone was given a very patriotic doll hat.
winners could also pick up their dolls on exit, but I don't know if these were Tae or the one-offs
After that, I suggested Mumu Hot Pot for dinner with Suzanne, Sam, hat and Linus! This place is also in the mall. It's a bit on the pricer side for hot pot, but the ingredients are all really good, and they have individual pots. The service at this location was a bit weird but the food was how I remembered it. I got the veggie set with mushroom soup base and once again I failed to finish everything... but I had a really good time! It was nice to just casually chat and eat with everyone. My heart was as warm as the soup. Did you know that Boys Over Flowers is a property of Shonen Jump?! Sam came prepared with trivia.
After getting extremely full, we walked through the mall a bit but everything was closing right as we were walking by, so there was not really much time for group perusing. It was too bad, because I would have enjoyed the Shonen Jump and Ghibli popups without feeling rushed. Not that I was going to buy anything, but it's fun to just look! Nordstrom was already shuttered so we could not take shortcut and had to go the long way around. The weather outside was nice and crisp, and I was reminded of my late college nights.
We ended up setting up in the hotel lobby for a bit, hoping some other late night dollers might stop by. Suzanne had an interesting observation. A lot of attendees were on the younger side, 18~35, and a lot were older women of retirement age. Not too many in between! She figured it must be because a lot of women give up their hobbies to care for their children. I can forgive the doll elders for retiring early, but Dolpa is misleadingly not a party con. People do not hang out after hours, so make sure you've made some friends before or while you attend or you'll be very socially bored!
Dolls Party
SEP 06 2026
Sunday is the big day for shopping. I actually split with Suzanne because I did not want to subject her to standing in more lines. Before the Sumika Shop opens, like last Dolpa, they had a lottery to split the line and let everyone lined up after that number enter first. I lined up a little after 9AM somewhere around number 70, and a second row in the queue had already formed. When the lottery was drawn, there were 149 people in line, and it was split at 138. So I was in the middle with an additional 9 people in front.
The wait was maybe another 15~20 minutes? While I waited I chatted with a woman in front of me who came with her husband. She said he spent the weekend touring LA, going to the aquarium and such. For people who don't want to travel by themselves but don't know any dollers personally, there is still plenty for them to do in LA in a weekend! So consider inviting them along!
Sumika Shop carries everything Volks USA has online, so you don't really need to spend much time looking for what you can already buy online unless you already know what you want. Volks said they had some deadstock but I didn't even bother with that. The strategy is to go straight to the table with Japanese dealer's items because there is no information about what will be there beforehand, and a lot of Japanese dealers are not the easiest to find. This is where the good stuff is. This year, the exchange rate was 100yen = 1 dollar. Not very favorable, especially with tax on top. SD stuff goes fast and boys clothes are a little more scant, but if you collect MSD, you'll have your pick of items even if you get to Sumika Shop later. After you've picked out what you want, you can go back to the Volks items. They had plenty of everything when I got in, including Standard Models and DD parts.
Unlike Dolpa 5, Dolpa 6 also had a handful of domestic dealers. They were all quality, so even their stuff was selling fast. No duds, which is great since there were so few of them. But I also didn't really have any need for eyes, so I didn't buy much.
Sumika Haul
- baby dress and bloomers set ベビードレス
- white coveralls 白いツナギ
- silk flowers
- leather boots
- chain vanity bag & organza lace-up boots set
- mini VOLKS NEWS ×2, DSD postcards
- ZM Special Brush — fine
- Mr.HOBBY Mr.Cotton Swab
by Doll'sDress凛 RIN
if anyone knows which dealer made this please let me know
by Mays Hanakago/Lunadollia
got greedy and grabbed the wrong size like an idiot
Galerie de l'esprit collaboration set I'd been eyeing for a while
gacha prizes
was looking for #4 but this is nice too
never have enough of these
It was right as I was trying to find a place to put Haupia in her new dress that Suzanne called me and told me hotel check out was an hour before we thought it was. So my shopping was over and I had to run back upstairs and pack up. I decided to keep Haupia out but it was really stressful. Luckily we did what we needed to in time and headed back downstairs together, and I hit up the ATM while I was there for cash for gacha. If only I didn't have to give all of my cash to the taxi driver...
I purchased 4 tries only at the Dollfie Gacha, because they were running out of prizes by then anyway (though they still had a decent amount before we had to hurridly checkout). This was my only game area mission though, because I didn't realize that at Dolpa 5 they had mini Volks news! I successfully won 3 copies of Volks news, and a set of 2 DSD postcards featuring Show, Coco and Saki (probably from 2019?). This is foreshadowing.
Lottery
After doing little spending, now was time for BIG SPENDING. Hat already did a break down of all of the dolls that were available for lottery, and I'm very grateful that I can skip putting in the same effort here. hat and Linus were very generous and wanted to help me win a Nayu after my disappointing loss at Dolpa 5. The math worked out that it would be slightly advantageous to spread out our tickets, but for whatever reason Volks decided to have each DSD sculpt share one bucket. So... that's what we did! Suzanne went a little crazy and decided to use her other three tickets on the other lotteries for the chance to take home four dolls. She entered for a Nikki, Best Selection Oliver, and D'Coord #60. I don't know why. She especially did not like the big titty DDs and thought they were a bit much, and I told her entering was completely optional, but I guess the Dolpa excitement was too contagious.
Anyway we made a brief excursion back to the mall, and hat babysat Haupia in the meantime, which I really appreciated. Thank you again!!! We made it back just in time for the lottery results announcements, which may be the highlight of my year. My heartbeat quickens when I think about it again.
Icon was first, and this took a long time with 30 dolls to get through. Suzanne and I were standing a bit away from the stage. We had a really good view of the tickets being drawn. Oh, I can't even describe what it was like when they got to Nikki. The very second the staff member's hand emerged from the box, and triumphantly thrust the green ticket in the air, I turned to Suzanne and said ”That's your ticket.“
I don't know how but I just knew. I think I have a sort of sixth sense for raffles. She won her first doll, a $900 one at that, at a Dolpa she tagged along to on a whim. Suzanne was so scared, it was so funny. I had never seen her make such an expression before. I was doubled over.
Terrified, she went to stand in the winner verification area and we made eye contact from across the room. Her expression never changed. But! By some miracle, I won a Camila too!!! So I got to join her while she fought back tears. I was ecstatic. The process for a lottery win is a Volks staffer verifying that the pulled ticket matches the preforated part that you keep, and also the name on your ID. They mark it, and then you walk back over to the Sumika Shop to pay for it. And while I was there I also picked up the Tawny hand set. Then Suzanne was freaking out because she had no idea how she'd get the doll home, and I didn't either, so we opted to just ship them. We had to ask where the shipping boxes were but they were obviously just behind the cashier desk, very easy to miss when you aren't actively looking for them! Then after another bit of waiting for the dolls to be packed up, we could go pick them up.
That was just the appetizer though! Suzanne was obviously freaking out because she realized she very realistically could have to buy 2 more dolls today. But the DSD lottery was the most exciting part! I was sweating when the Nayu names were called, and hat's name got called first. I was genuinely so happy and was actually going to try to convince her to keep it if it really came down to it, since your first Dolpa win is so special, but by some miracle, my name was called literally right after! I don't know how to describe this feeling of luck and gratitude. I teared up. By the power of friendship, no one has to make any compromises or concessions and we BOTH get a NAYU?! A perfect win. The most perfect possible win.
so nice to finally bring you home!!!
Suzanne and Linus could finally breathe after the lotteries were over too because they also did sacrifice some of their sanity for dolls they didn't particularly want. I will forever be in your debts.
For DSD, the process was the same as Icon. And since Suzanne and I had plans with friends in the area, our Dolpa pretty much ended here. We asked to be driven to FedEx (and I brought hat's Nayu too!), and they helped me pack up and ship the dolls. They had way too much fun with the tape. Friends are such a wonderful thing! I really do not think half of the weekend would have been possible without everyone who helped me have a good time.
But that's about it! If I were to do LA Dolpa again (and I will), I think I will stay an extra night and leave Monday so that Sunday can really be enjoyed to the fullest. I feel like I missed out on quite a bit just running around trying to keep up with everything, I wanted to hang out more, and I still feel like I've barely seen any of LA!
My complete haul. Thanks for all of the gifts, hat!!!
The auction model sold for $126,900, a number that left even Volks astonished. I think they kept the winner a secret because they were worried...
Ｕ．Ｓ．Ａ！ Ｕ．Ｓ．Ａ！
It will be a little longer until Nayu and Camila arrive, but it's a much shorter wait than the next LA Dolpa, so I will do my best to endure!