Sometimes the stars align just so, and something magical happens.    This may just be one of those times in my life.

Almost a year ago, tickets went on sale for the 2013 D23 Expo.   Since I’m planning on writing a lot more about the Expo over the next 3 weeks, I won’t go into anything about it here, other than to say buying the tickets put a stake in the ground as far as my schedule … I knew exactly where I was going to be on August 9-11 of 2013.

I bought those Expo tickets while I was training for my first ever runDisney race, and my first run over 5K – the Tower of Terror 10 miler, in late September of 2012.   That race led me to try another — the WDW Half Marathon in January 2013 — and that in turn led me to sign up for back-to-back races over the upcoming Labor Day weekend — the inaugural Disneyland 10K on August 31st, followed by the Disneyland Half Marathon on September 1st.   (The two races together comprise the Dumbo Double Dare challenge, and doing the Disneyland Half during the same calendar year as the WDW Half earns me the Coast-to-Coast Challenge medal, so I’ll be sporting some serious bling come Labor Day.    I hope I can stand up!

That’s another topic for future posts, but once again, I’ve got a firm schedule commitment, again in Anaheim, this time for Labor Day weekend.

Now, at the same time I’m making all these plans for Anaheim, I’m also thinking about a cross-country move — to get closer to family and friends, primarily.   It’s an idea I’ve been kicking around for several years, but with real estate in the tank recently it wasn’t feasible to sell my house for enough to make it worthwhile.    But recent recoveries in the market changed the equation … I talked to my Realtor and we decided to give it a shot.   The house went on the market, and 8 days later it was under contract.    The market was stronger than I realized.

I followed this up with a trip to Atlanta, I called it a house hunting trip but honestly I would have been satisfied just to eliminate a few areas from consideration and narrow the focus somewhat.   Finding neighborhoods, and not necessarily “the” house, was my goal.    But again, things went better than expected, and by the end of last week I was under contract on a house there.

Now is when the timing falls into place beautifully.   I need to be out of my house here in early August, but the house I just purchased is under construction and will not be ready until mid-September.     So I’m homeless for most of the month of August.     But, I do have a few prior commitments in Anaheim … so you can probably see where this is going.

Early in August, the movers will come in, pack up my house, and roll away.    I’ll board a flight for Anaheim and enjoy the D23 Expo.   And then …. I’ll stay.    My job affords me the luxury of working from anywhere I can get an internet connection, so it’s not (exactly) an extended vacation.    I’m hoping to find a nice coffee shop or similar location to use as my office for nearly four weeks, while every evening is a chance to enjoy the Disneyland Resort at a leisurely pace I’ve never experienced.   I’ll need to keep up my training … a lap around the resort perimeter is just about the length of my daily runs, anyway, so that shouldn’t present much of a problem.   After the Dumbo Double Dare on Labor Day weekend, I’ll fly to Atlanta, where I’ll stay with family for the last couple of weeks before moving in to my new home.

I’m really looking forward to living — however briefly — in Anaheim.    The Expo should be amazing, I’m hoping just to finish the races upright, and the time in between should be a great chance to get to know every little nook and cranny of the Disneyland resort.

So, Disneyland friends — any suggestions?    Where’s a great place to set up with a laptop and get work done while still being part of the magic?   What are the places to see and things to do when you’ve got more than just a couple of days to run through the parks?    Anything else you’d recommend for a short-term Anaheim area resident to make sure not to miss?