For years, Anaheim has been shorthand for Disneyland.

But at the inaugural Stand Up, Chow Down: An Anaheim Experience, the city’s destination marketing organization made a different kind of pitch.

The two-day, comedy-and-culinary mashup was a calculated attempt to give Anaheim some dimension. Or, as Visit Anaheim Chief Marketing Officer Scott Oklin put it: “There are parts of Anaheim that you have never explored, and that’s why you should come.”

Yes, technically, this was a comedy festival. Tickets in the $30 to $50 range granted access to shows headlined by Adam Ray, Craig Conant, and Rosebud Baker, alongside 40-plus other comedians curated by Don't Tell Comedy.

But instead of corralling attendees into a single venue, the festival scattered them across a three-block radius in the Anaheim Packing District, a pocket of historic warehouses turned food halls that, despite sitting just two miles from Disneyland, might as well be another city for most visitors.

“There are all these kind of hidden gems and an underbelly that we want you to experience,” Oklin said.

So, comedy shows used any venue but a theater. Rosebud Baker performed at Unsung Brewing Company, pulling audiences into spaces they likely wouldn’t have found on their own.

Pepsi took over Farmers Park Anaheim.

Meanwhile, Pepsi took over Farmers Park Anaheim, turning a two-acre green space into a picnic-style hangout loaded with giveaways and the kind of lingering that boosts dwell time.

One block away, Diageo transformed Russ Ward Auto Body Shop into a bar setup featuring hyper-specific drink stations: espresso martinis on one side, old fashioneds on the other, all accessed through a garage door usually reserved for oil changes.

Other venues were kept secret until that morning. It made for just enough intrigue to make the event lineup feel less like an itinerary and more like an outing filled with surprise and delight.

The strategy worked, and people surely showed up. Across April 3-4, the festival moved 1,200 comedy tickets, with 10 of 12 shows oversold. Another 1,000-plus people bought access just to the Pepsi activation, proof that a good share of folks didn't actually need a ticketed headliner.

Perhaps the more telling stat, however, was that about 20% of attendees traveled 50 miles or more to be there.

For context, Oklin pointed out that the Savannah Bananas, a viral baseball team that was in Anaheim the weekend prior, pulled fans from 250 miles away. “For a comedy festival in year one to be driving 20% of the ticket sales from 50 miles or greater was a great start for us,” Oklin said

Also, during that two-day run, Anaheim sold 37,182 hotel rooms out of 42,854 available, for an impressive 86.8% occupancy rate.

“The intention is for it to really be something that people will travel not just one night, but stay two, three nights and get the whole destination experience in there too,” Oklin said.

To him, this means catching an Anaheim Ducks game at the Honda Center which, not coincidentally, is slated to play a role in the 2028 Summer Olympics, or exploring the broader Platinum Triangle, a 100-acre district that also encompasses the Angel Stadium of Anaheim and the ARTIC transit center.

Just Getting Started

If Stand Up, Chow Down was the proof that Anaheim is on the up and up, what’s coming next is the infrastructure to scale it.

From his office, Oklin quite literally has a front-row seat. While speaking to Inspired Insights, he glanced out the window at the construction site for OCVIBE, a $5 billion, 100-acre project rising in the Platinum Triangle that signals where the city is headed next.

“Think LA Live on massive doses of steroids,” Oklin said.

Led by the Samueli family (the same folks behind the Anaheim Ducks), OCVIBE is adding three miles of walking trails, 20 acres of parks and plazas, 35-plus restaurants, 2,000 residences, office space, hotels, and a 25,000-seat entertainment venue to Orange County.

The first phase, set to open in 2027, will introduce a 5,000-capacity live entertainment venue, a 50,000-square-foot food hall, and The Weave, a four-story office hub.

The full project wraps in 2033.

“The Anaheim story is still very much being written,” Oaklin said.

The identity shift is this: “If you're a Disney fan, fantastic, now you have another reason to stay longer,” according to Oaklin. “And if you're not a Disney fan, and you wrote off Anaheim previously, well now we're giving you more reasons to be able to come and experience the destination beyond what you what your perception might have been.”

Photo Credit: Visit Anaheim

Oaklin confirmed that Stand Up, Chow Down will return to Anaheim in 2027. Dates are TBD.