Garden Grove Takes Another Shot at Becoming Disneyland’s Second Front Door

Garden Grove Takes Another Shot at Becoming Disneyland’s Second Front Door

June 27, 2026

By Brian Hews

GARDEN GROVE — For decades, millions of tourists have driven through Garden Grove on their way to Disneyland, spending their vacation dollars just a few blocks away in Anaheim.

City leaders have long believed Garden Grove deserved a larger share of Orange County’s tourism economy.

Now, with plans for a 500-room Nickelodeon-themed resort moving closer to reality, officials hope the city can further establish itself as a destination rather than simply a neighboring community to the Disneyland Resort.

The Garden Grove Planning Commission recently recommended approval of the project following completion of a court-ordered Supplemental Environmental Impact Report. The proposal now returns to the City Council for final consideration.

If approved, the resort would be built on Harbor Boulevard near Twintree Avenue, just south of the existing Sheraton Hotel and minutes from Disneyland, the Anaheim Convention Center, Honda Center and Angel Stadium.

Rather than serving as just another hotel, the Nickelodeon Resort is designed to be an attraction in its own right.

Plans include 500 guest rooms, a themed pool complex with waterslides and a lazy river, a 600-seat Nickelodeon theater, children’s interactive play areas, an arcade, restaurants, retail shops, meeting and ballroom facilities, a spa, fitness center and structured parking.

The resort would become the first full-scale Nickelodeon-themed hotel in the United States, bringing one of the world’s best-known children’s entertainment brands into Southern California’s tourism market.

The proposal represents another major step in Garden Grove’s decades-long effort to expand its own resort district along Harbor Boulevard.

That vision has already taken shape with projects such as Great Wolf Lodge Southern California, which opened in 2016 and demonstrated that families would choose to stay in Garden Grove while visiting Disneyland and other Orange County attractions.

The Nickelodeon Resort would build upon that success by adding another nationally recognized entertainment brand to the corridor, creating additional reasons for visitors to spend time—and money—within Garden Grove.

City officials estimate the project will generate millions of dollars annually through hotel occupancy taxes, sales taxes and property taxes while creating hundreds of permanent hospitality jobs and construction jobs during development.

The proposed hotel tower would rise approximately 330 feet, making it one of the tallest buildings in Garden Grove and a new landmark along Harbor Boulevard.

The environmental review determined that while some greenhouse gas impacts remain significant under California environmental law, mitigation measures would address transportation improvements, electric vehicle infrastructure and pedestrian access associated with the project.

If the City Council grants final approval, construction would move into the permitting phase before work begins.

For Garden Grove, the project is about more than adding another hotel room to Orange County’s inventory.

It is another chapter in a long-term strategy to transform Harbor Boulevard into a premier resort corridor, capture a greater share of the region’s multi-billion-dollar tourism economy, and ensure that visitors heading to Disneyland see Garden Grove as a destination—not simply the city next door.