Big conventions sell you an experience. Small ones sell you the thing you actually came for. Nobody drives two hours to stand in a line for a photo op — they drive because one dealer somewhere has the exact figure they have been hunting since the nineties, and in a room this size you can genuinely find it.
That is the whole proposition. Focused enough that serious collectors turn up with deep inventory, small enough that a casual browser is not immediately overwhelmed and pushed back out the door. Vendors run from original eighties action figures and vintage board games to modern collectible lines and custom fan art, and Creator Alley gives independent artists their own space to sell original work directly to whoever is standing there.
One day in La Mirada, family-friendly, free parking in the hotel lot, cheaper if you buy ahead.
Bring the kid who has never seen a wall of loose figures before. Or just bring yourself, at whatever age you are now.