crystal

Traveling to Orange County next spring with my teen-aged daughter. Have never been to this area. We wanted to be close to everything in the Anaheim area. Considering staying at the Hilton on State College Blvd for about 4-5 days then off to the beaches for another 4-5 days.

Michele

There are parts of Orange and Anaheim that are not safe, but they are places that tourists would not consider going to.

The Hilton you are considering caters to mostly business travelers, but the area surrounding it is safe. It is not the most scenic place - high volume traffic, major hospital very close, vacant field across from the hotel. Not exactly a place to go for an evening stroll, but to be used as a place to stay, it does well. You would be very centrally located to almost everything in Orange County, assuming you have access to a car. Disneyland is a short distance away (I presume the hotel has a shuttle - most major hotels near Disney do), Knott's is not far at all, you are right up the street from The Block at Orange, a huge outdoor shopping mall that caters to teens and early 20-somethings. The beach is not that far of a drive, so if you were to keep the same hotel you could still do all the beach stuff.

If you are planning on doing anything in LA, it might be too much of a drive unless you only plan to do something for a day. Downtown LA is about 45 miles away - West LA even farther. If your daughter is into water parks, there are 3 close by: Soak City at Knott's, one in Irvine, and one in San Dimas. The one in San Dimas is the farthest one away of the three.

If you want a place where you wouldn't have to use a car so much, I would recommend staying at a property right around Disneyland. Anaheim really cleaned up the area and made much, much better than it was before. However, the property you are considering is fine as well. I would stay there, no problem. Not as pleasing to the eye as other properties, but it serves the intended purpose well.

Hope you and your daughter have a great time!

Marianne

I've spent several trips in Orange County and found it exceptionally clean and safe....much more so than other areas. I'm sure there are "not good" areas, but I've never run across them yet. I've stayed in Anaheim (close to Disneyland), Fullerton and Costa Mesa twice. Any of those 3 are great!

crystal

thank you for the replies - any more out there? Thank you Jim, too! Advice will not be heeded

pia

just be careful..
your daughter may like to go to southcoast plaza/that is in Irvine close to orange county/otherwise the disneyland area would be great/fireworks everynight you can watch for free from the disneyland hotel or anywhere close by/knotts berry farm/just stay close to hotels like disneland hotel/4 seasons hotel/lots of those choices when you get to the area.
from orange you can hit the beaches of the famous newport beach/that is where a lot of the young crowd go beware of parking & bumper to bumper traffic/lots of good eating places/you can spend a whole day plus more out there/you may want to try a hotel really close to the beach for a day/also try laguna beach/
lots of small shops & street shops on the wknd when it really comes alive/
checkout also Huntington bch for volley
ball/lots of good asian restaurants like thai barbe que hm/all you can eat chinese food/seafood by the beach/enjoy

xxx

Pia has some decent info, but also was misleading with some of the ideas. South Coast Plaza is in Costa Mesa, not Irvine. And both are in Orange County (not near it).

Four Seasons Hotel is in Newport Beach, not near Disneyland.

Orange and Anaheim near Disneyland are safe, though I can't say that I'd walk around late at night. You'll be fine walking around Downtown Disney. The Block@Orange is also a fine area to wander around after hours (a 30 theater complex, lots of restaurants and shopping).