I am visiting Anaheim and staying at the Disneyland Hotel for a conference. The whole Disney experience is my idea of hell and I'm hoping that somebody might have some suggestions for things to do in the evenings. I won't have a car.
Many thanks.

Well, you could check out Downtown Disney. I don't know if you'd consider it a Disney experience, but it's free and outside the park. More like a huge mall, entertainment area.

Defnitely Downtown Disney. It is not as "themed" as you would expect. Very normal outdoor mall, as travelinandgolfin said. They sometimes have live music of different kinds all over the walkways.

There are some decent restaurants (ralph brennan's jazz kitchen has live music in the piano bar, most nights of the week, I think....)and some newsstands and bookstore, etc. Nice place to walk around and people watch or get something to eat. If you're there during the week, it won't be too crowded with little sticky fingered kids, either.

I sometimes wonder about Disney and people's reactions to it.

I'm headed there this weekend and completely looking forward to it (again!).

I wonder if people who never visited as children just don't have the same connection to the place.

I know what you mean about growing up with D-land. I wonder if you're like me, and you still prefer the old park, even though there's more to do for adults in the new one (supposedly.) Now, with me, it seemed like I was there four times a year, growing up in Santa Barbara, we'd go there for everyone's birthday (in those days, there was nothing to do here.) Yet, I still like to visit. Never really tired of it.

Crap, now I want to go. Have fun this weekend!

You did not say when you were arriving. If you are lucky, you may be able to catch an Angels game as well. It would be a short cab ride. Tickets are hard to come by but if you plan ahead, you may be lucky.

Other than that, I agree on the Downtown Disney idea. There are a lot worse places to hang out than the ESPN Zone!