Prevue goes on location in Anaheim, the Orange County city that’s turning heads with a range of new developments.
“Anaheim,” says Ronnie Collins, Chief Sales Officer for Visit Anaheim, “is a meetings, entertainment and convention destination that happens to be a city. So, the meetings, the conventions, the events and tourism are our lifeblood.
“This 350,000-population destination plays on the world stage every single day. Every day this destination welcomes more than 100,000 people. They go to Disneyland, they enjoy some of the other entertainment in the area and in the region or they go to the convention center. A hundred-thousand people a day—think about that. The population grows by like 30 percent every single day, and the destination [welcomes them] while roller skating backwards and whistling…like it’s nothing. There’s no other destination that can say that.”
Collins notes, too, that the city has 20,000 hotel rooms, making it a much more intimate market. “There’s no comparison to Anaheim. We have world-class demand generators with Disneyland and a 1.8-million-sf convention center. This is a destination that is intimate, friendly, approachable and community focused.”
He shared this insight with Prevue and other media over lunch at the En Familia restaurant, located in the city’s Anaheim Packing District—one of several spots we visited during a recent FAM to experience the city’s group-ready offerings first-hand.
The coming years will see a bevy of activity in Anaheim, with new projects taking form, including OCVIBE—a 100-acre multi-use development built around ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center) and Honda Center and set to welcome guests starting this year (with construction continuing into 2029)—and Disneyland Forward, which will double the density of this iconic park.
Mike Waterman, Visit Anaheim’s President & CEO, told the group that when he started at the organization in 2024, he outlined a goal of identifying five of the top industry events that the city could host starting in 2026 and ending with U.S. Travel Association’s IPW conference in 2030. The reason? To showcase the city and all its new happenings to as many people as possible. “We can tell you about it, we can advertise it, we can do interviews about what’s going on here, but when you come and see it with your own eyes, you understand what’s [really] happening. Anaheim is the heartbeat of Orange County.”
A Touch of History
Comprised of four historic landmarks and a 2-acre park, the Anaheim Packing District is undoubtedly one of the city’s most picturesque and unique districts. Here, the focal point is the striking, 42,000-sf Anaheim Packing House, a former 1919 Anaheim Orange and Lemon Association Packing House that’s been converted into a lively Market Hall, home to an array of F&B outlets, including Orange County’s first speakeasy, The Blind Rabbit, and one of our favorite spots for dessert, Le Parfait Paris.
Whether your group is made up of 300 or 3,000, the District can accommodate with partial or complete buyouts. The Packing House itself has capacity for 2,711, with attendees enjoying culinary tastings from over 25 restaurants as well as an open bar. Meanwhile, the Farmers Park, a lovely space that connects two historic buildings and is home to a chef’s garden, can accommodate up to 830 attendees. Groups can, of course, take over the entire District with activations sprinkled throughout (don’t miss creating a great photo-op touchpoint by the Packing House’s restored rails and train car). Additionally, smaller groups can craft events at the various restaurants throughout the District, including the aforementioned En Familia, located at the Packard Building and serving modern Mexican cuisine. Plus, chefs can work with planners to customize the menu.
Creating a New City Landscape
Three miles of pedestrian trails; 35+ restaurant offerings, including a 21-stall food hall; a 5,700-person performance venue; a 2,000-capacity theater; a 300-capacity intimate club; 20 acres of parks and plazas; two hotels with 550 rooms; the world’s largest outdoor free art installation; and a pedestrian bridge connecting ARTIC to the Honda Center—when OCVIBE makes its grand debut, downtown Anaheim will be completely reimagined with a complex that’s set to be four times larger than L.A. LIVE.
Large groups can look at OCVIBE as a playground where creativity can shape standout events, offering appealing outdoor spaces (Anaheim has some of the best weather in the country) and eye-catching indoor venues. Take the ARTIC complex—its diamond-shaped steel arches and translucent ETFE panels create a striking, light-filled atrium, and LED lights in the framing animate the panels with shifting color effects. This stunning space can host up to 1,500 attendees (full buyout) or as little as 49.
Meanwhile, the Honda Center, the home arena to the Anaheim Ducks, is able to accommodate groups as large as 17,000 (full buyout) or as small as 50 in the Wine Cellar. We had a chance to enjoy the onsite 5,200-sf Impact Club, featuring a 360-degree, in-the-round bar, a secluded lounge area with oversized booths, a dining room and walls of LED screens; it holds 250 for a reception/160, banquet-style. For VIP attendees, plan a night out at a Ducks game after a long day of meetings—it’s a highlight of a visit to the city.
In fact, sporting events will play a huge role in Anaheim in the next few years, including when the Summer Olympics come to the Greater Los Angeles area in 2028, as this SoCal city is set to host the indoor volleyball events at the Honda Center.
The Largest Convention Center on the West Coast
Yes, you read that right—Anaheim is home to the largest convention center on the U.S. West Coast. The Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) is massive, but if you let your imagination run wild you can visualize all the fantastic meetings, events, mega-conventions and tradeshows that can take place here—from intimate to grand. We had an opportunity to tour the 53-acre complex, with its exhibit halls, ballrooms and outdoor areas, including our favorite spot, the picturesque Grand Plaza, which can host 2,500 attendees. There’s also the 28,140-sf Arena, which has capacity for 7,500, stadium-style seating.
When it comes to its sustainability initiatives, ACC features a 2,000-sf rooftop garden filled with adaptive plants and herbs, 3,000 sf of solar panels that line the roof and provide roughly 17 percent of the center’s energy and an onsite recycling center that turns food waste and kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich compost used for the gardens throughout the 1,100-acre Anaheim Resort. The latter, incidentally, encompasses the theme parks hotels and shopping and dining of the Disneyland Resort, the Anaheim Convention Center, hotels, restaurants, shops, offices and visitor businesses.
Hilton Anaheim Reimagined
Neighboring ACC is the Hilton Anaheim, our host hotel and the largest property in Orange County, with 1,574 rooms and suites. For all its scale, the hotel remains warm and inviting, reflecting the area’s California roots throughout, including with an orange aroma diffused throughout the lobby that’s a nod to the orange groves that shaped the area’s early identity.
Last October saw the completion of the hotel’s comprehensive transformation—a multi-million dollar, full-property renovation that began in July 2024. All 1,574 rooms and suites were redesigned with plush bedding, warm wood accents and updated carpeting, among other updates. The lobby, too, was reimagined, and now features open seating, tree-inspired motifs, nature-inspired textures (bringing the outside in) and a custom LED lighting system evoking a California sky (or the color can be customized to whatever branding a group prefers).
The hotel’s 105,959 sf of meeting and event space, with capacity for up to 3,000, has been fully refreshed, featuring modern desks and chairs, horizon-inspired wall coverings, leather-like vinyl finishes, richer wood tones and upgraded lighting. Ballrooms and conference rooms now offer sophisticated, flexible environments for conferences and gatherings, supported by enhanced audiovisual and technology capabilities.
The property features twin 28,000-sf ballrooms, and for alfresco receptions look to the twin, 19,000-sf outdoor event spaces: the Sunset Terrace and the Lanai Terrace, the latter featuring grass and market lights. You’ll want to know, too, that there are 73 separate meeting rooms on-property.
For morning coffee runs and delicious baked goods that are made in-house and sourced locally, attendees will want to head to Hansen’s Market, and over at Poppy’s restaurant, they’ll find a seasonal menu that Executive Chef Prabeen Prathapan has expertly put together. During a VIP Chef’s Table experience (tucked away in the hotel’s kitchen), we got a taste of what you can expect from the hotel’s F&B program, which has been overhauled by Prathapan. Among the culinary delights we feasted on were a “crab cigar,” made with lump crab, old bay seasoning and avocado-jalapeno aioli; an heirloom beet & persimmon salad; and a coffee & dark chocolate crusted Wagyu tenderloin—all can be included in group events, Prathapan told us. And the Chef’s Table itself is a must for your C-suite attendees.
Stepping into a Magical, Immersive Landscape
Disneyland Resort is undeniably a wow space where group gatherings are sure to stay with your attendees for a long time. During our visit, we got a whirlwind tour of the complex’s array of spaces, but before our walk-thru, we lunched at Great Maple at Pixar Place Hotel, which is available for buyouts and can be a treat for groups as it’s famous for its massive doughnuts.
Among the standout meeting and event venues throughout Disneyland Park are several immersive spaces, but some of the ones that most piqued our interest were Tomorrowland’s Starcade, adorned with an eclectic collection of original Disney sketches and portraits, and Starview Station, featuring a terrace with stunning views of the theme park. At Disney California Adventure Park, Hyperion Queue is quite unique as it’s an open-air-lab-turned dining space featuring decor inspired by ongoing experiments. For events that need state-of-the-art tech features, the park’s Disney Theater offers LED screens and a built-in state.
At the stunning Grand Californian property—with 29,000 sf of indoor/outdoor space—we stepped into several spaces that wowed, including the picturesque and inviting Brisa Courtyard and the grand, 11,863-sf Sequoia Ballroom. Plus, the property’s meeting rooms are quite striking. Disneyland Hotel features 137,000 sf of indoor/outdoor space, including the enchanting 3,600-sf Sleeping Beauty Pavilion. Look to the 14,00-sf Adventure Lawn, with its gazebo and Rose Court Garden, for fabulous sunset gatherings.
For more information, go to: visitanaheim.org/meetings
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