thewest.travel Anaheim/Orange County Meetings with a side of sunny

AT A GLANCE Convention facilities • The Anaheim Convention Center, with 1.6 million square feet of exhibit space

Hotel rooms • 55,000 in Anaheim and Orange County

Attractions • Nine beaches, 40-plus championship golf courses, Disneyland Resort, and shopping at every price point — from the high-end South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa to The Outlets at Orange

Convention campus The largest convention center on the West Coast, Anaheim Convention Center offers a well-connected campus that also includes the Hilton Anaheim and the Anaheim Marriott and that, when combined, offers more than two million square feet of total meeting space.

Located in the heart of Southern California and known for its ideal year-round climate, Orange County has the unique Southern Cali- fornia lifestyle that gives meetings a laid-back energy and easy sophistication that can’t be replicated anywhere else. Beyond its spa- cious meeting facilities and hotels, Orange County offers a safe, family-friendly destina- tion to base a successful SoCal meeting expe- rience. Orange County and Anaheim are just 30 miles south of Los Angeles and 90 miles north of San Diego, giving attendees easy access to four international airports. Even repeat attendees will find that

Orange County always has something new to discover. This year, the Anaheim Conven- tion Center debuted the Grand Plaza, a new,

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100,000-square-foot outdoor campus that gives meeting planners a venue for large gatherings, concerts, receptions, and exhi- bitions. Also new and highly anticipated, The Source, in nearby Buena Park, will have 500,000 square feet of shopping, dining, and entertainment to explore when completed, and the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) will complete a new transportation facility in 2014. The ARTIC will transport people between popular activ- ity centers and business districts in Southern California. One of the biggest reasons why meeting

planners continually return to Orange County is its well-developed infrastructure. Anaheim and Orange County combined have 55,000

hotel guest rooms, four airports, and a mod- ern convention center. Throw in world-class entertainment, professional sporting events, a diverse dining scene, famously beautiful beaches, and unsurpassed shopping, and planners have a well-rounded meeting destination that will impress any crowd. In Downtown Anaheim, which has undergone a renaissance of sorts in recent years, attend- ees can explore two districts — Center Street, an eclectic array of locally owned restaurants and shops, and the nearby Packing District, which is known for its retro-style architecture.

For more information: Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau — (855) 405-5020; anaheimoc.org

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