AntSol Travel

If Anaheim Resort area guests are okay to drive outside of Anaheim for errands and fun, this guide is for them of different places to check out, destinations to visit, restaurants to eat, and how the area would feel for the general public. Welcome to the first installment of Outside Anaheim series. Located 15 miles away from Disneyland, the City of Irvine has become a huge hot spot for activities & sports in the last decade with the Great Park, and a hot spot for new restaurants & retail locations at the Irvine Spectrum Center.

• Great Park
  • Located 15 miles from Disneyland. The Great Park was Marine Corps Air Station El Toro from World War II 1945 to 1999, named after the nearby community of El Toro.
    • The original site was 4,682 acres, fitting 223 Angel Stadiums at 21 acres. 
    • The land was returned to the city of Irvine in 1999, with decommissioned buildings, landing strips, and all. 
    • It was set to either become an airport or city development, many voted for development since many residents were irritated that they bought their houses from an air force base in the first place, an airport would make it worse due to consistent airplane noise pollution. 
  • Since then, the city of Irvine poured a lot of money and resources to demolish and clean up the base, then sold the land to developers for single-family homes & townhomes, while the Irvine Company built apartment complexes.
    • The money from land sales went to the park to help make Irvine a sports & recreation destination. 
    • Now featuring many outdoor sports fields, an ice rink, gardens, art galleries, a helium balloon which visitors can go on for free thanks to Five Points, one of the home builders, and the crown jewel of the development of the sport, Championship Stadium of the Orange County Soccer Club. 
    • There was even a soccer tournament taking place on this Memorial Day weekend, the Cerritos Memorial Challenge Cup.
    • One of the landing strips was reused as a really wide walkway, and painted a timeline of history from the first humans migrated to the Americas to now. 
  • Read more about the park in one of my previous articles.

• Wild River Water Park
  • Opened in 2022, it was relocated from its original location back in 2011 when it lost its land lease from the Irvine Company. 
  • The new location is twice as large as the original site at 20 acres. 
  • There are parking fees for the water park, but free for the sports complex, there are signs saying it is against the ordinance to do so. 
  • New this year is new kiddie slides and a large wading pool. 

• Five Points Amphitheater
  • Another venue that lost its lease from the Irvine Company and relocated to the Great Park was Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in 2016, which relocated and reopened the following year, with a capacity of 12,280. 
  • It is conveniently located next to the Irvine Amtrak/Metrolink station for a car-free experience to & from the concert. 
  • It is owned & named by FivePoint real estate developer and operated by concert promoter LiveNation. 
  • Check out the article from the Orange County Register for artists playing this year. 
  • There are plans in the works for the development of a 14,000-seat permanent amphitheater. 

• There is still plenty of land for future development, along with the new amphitheater. Dubbed Heart of the Park: the remaining air base structures will be torn down for:
  • Botanical Garden
  • Veteran’s Park & Gardens. 
  • One of the tarmacs will still stay as is as a “Walk of Honor.” 
  • Next door will be a city library with space for meetings for the community. 
  • A Cultural Terrace for dance studios & museums.
  • An aquatics center, that might not be ready for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
  • How is it being paid for? The residents who directly live in the area with the amazing amenities pay for it via a Mellow-Roos special tax.  

• Irvine Spectrum Center
  • Next is the Irvine Spectrum Center, a shopping center & overall denser suburban development by the Irvine Company. The shopping center encompasses 78 acres, fitting 3.77 Angel Stadiums at 21 acres each.
    • The Irvine Company developed many well-planned neighborhoods where residents can be a short drive or bike ride to their place of school, work, errands, and entertainment. 
    • However, prior to the Spectrum Center’s development in 1995, Irvine did not have a compact center with shops, restaurants, attractions, and entertainment in one palace, but also a walk from the apartment, work, and then the shopping center. 
    • To give the feel of a downtown area by the Interstate 5 & 405 interchange, the Spectrum Development was built with several five-story apartment buildings, office buildings, and then the Spectrum Center. 
    • The first phase of the shopping center opened in 1995. 
    • This inspired the city of Anaheim to do a similar development style for the downtown and now Platinum Triangle in 2004, the main attraction focal point would be Angels Stadium & Honda Center instead of a shopping center.
    • The exterior shot of the mall was used for the establishing shot of the Disney Channel TV show, Austin & Ally, which was supposed to be the Mall of Miami.
      • I tried to get a screenshot on Disney+, however, it just comes up with a blank screen to prevent screenshots.

• The Spectrum Center contains 61 food & beverage outlets, 120 stores, an Improv comedy club, an escape room, a VR arcade, a Dave & Busters, a Regal movie theater, a Target, Bristol’s grocery store, a carousel, and a Ferris Wheel.
  • The center is always busy due to the variety of outlets and can get packed on the weekends. 
  • The main reason for my visit was to get lunch at the grand opening of Shake Shack, then check on the progress of the relocations of the Sprinkles Cupcakes as it left Downtown Disney for the Spectrum Center
  • Shake Shack just opened on May 26, 2023. According to the OC Register, this is their 300th US location, 40th in California, and first in Orange County.
  •  This location will exclusively have the OC Dreamsicle Shake, a vanilla custard & orange soda shake. 5% of sales of the shake will be donated to the State of California, Department of Parks & Recreation. It was good & creamy! 
  • However, there was a long line, about a twenty-minute wait to place my order, and fifteen minutes for my order to be prepared. There were not any open tables, I also did not want to be rude and take up a table for four with one person anyways. I sat in one of the other food court areas with seating and did a video showcasing the burger, fries, and shake. 

• The signage for Sprinkles is still in coming soon mode.