Will Indiana Jones and Princess Tiana stay together?

Of all the Disney princesses Indiana Jones has dated, I thought Tiana made the best match for the randy archaeologist-turned-adventure.

They’re good foils for each other, seem to understand one another and don’t expect the impossible from the other.

As the central character of Backstage Disneyland, I wanted Indy to have a magnetism women wanted despite their better judgement. He’s a lousy boyfriend but a good guy at heart.

I took particular joy in having the princesses take turns smacking, slapping, kicking and punching Indy until they nearly knock him out. Hopefully the reader enjoys it as much as I did.

Indy doesn’t talk much but he does take a beating - and there’s a lot more of that to come in future chapters.


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Sample chapters
Prologue: Once Upon a Time
Chapter 1: Wonderful World of Disney
Chapter 2: A Whole New World
Chapter 3: Exile on Main Street USA
Chapter 4: Evil Plans
Chapter 5: Real Princesses of Disneyland
Chapter 6: Action Figure
Chapter 7: Code R
Chapter 8: Common Foes
Chapter 9: Peace, Love & Mickey
Chapter 10: Operation Death Star

Chapter 11: Frozen Ever After

Why shouldn’t the Disney princesses have their own reality TV show?

It always made sense to me that the Disney princesses would hang out together, fight all the time and want their own reality television show. Call it a natural brand extension.

I’ve never watched “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “The Bachelor,” “Real Housewives of Beverly Hill” or any of the other soap opera-based reality TV shows. I based my version of Real Princesses of Disneyland on my best guess of what happens in a weekly reality TV episode as filtered through the lens of the Disney princesses.

I guess I’ll have to actually watch a few of the shows if I eventually do a Real Princesses of Disneyland follow-up to Backstage Disneyland.


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Sample chapters
Prologue: Once Upon a Time
Chapter 1: Wonderful World of Disney
Chapter 2: A Whole New World
Chapter 3: Exile on Main Street USA
Chapter 4: Evil Plans
Chapter 5: Real Princesses of Disneyland
Chapter 6: Action Figure
Chapter 7: Code R
Chapter 8: Common Foes
Chapter 9: Peace, Love & Mickey
Chapter 10: Operation Death Star

Chapter 11: Frozen Ever After

Should Disney animals walk and talk or scurry about?

For the most part, I didn’t introduce any magic to Backstage Disneyland beyond the supernatural elements inherent in each of the individual characters.

The smaller animals from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Cinderella” and “Bambi” help around the reality television show set of Real Princesses of Disneyland as gaffers and grips. A few animals speak, but for the most part they communicate without words. And just like in the Disney movies, I left them animal-sized in comparison to their human cohorts.

Although not expressly described in the book, I imagined that the small film crew animals would likely live together somewhere in Disneyland like the tiny houses that line the shores of Storybook Land Canal Boats.

I purposely put the larger anthropomorphic animals like Pluto, Winnie the Pooh and Goofy that walk and talk like humans in Club 33 with characters their own size.

Disneyland has had to deal with many of the same issues when they introduce costumed characters into the park - making Chip & Dale, Tinker Bell and Timon life size rather than stay true to their diminutive movie scales.


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Sample chapters
Prologue: Once Upon a Time
Chapter 1: Wonderful World of Disney
Chapter 2: A Whole New World
Chapter 3: Exile on Main Street USA
Chapter 4: Evil Plans
Chapter 5: Real Princesses of Disneyland
Chapter 6: Action Figure
Chapter 7: Code R
Chapter 8: Common Foes
Chapter 9: Peace, Love & Mickey
Chapter 10: Operation Death Star

Chapter 11: Frozen Ever After

Disneybounding with princesses Belle, Tiana and Snow White

For the most part, I left the Disney characters in Backstage Disneyland in their familiar costumes. In most scenes, we see them at work or just after they’ve gotten off work for the day so I assumed they hadn’t yet changed into more casual clothes.

The one exception was the Real Princesses of Disneyland scene. While most of the Disney royalty remained in their formal gowns for the reality television recording session, Snow White, Belle and Tiana were purposely dressed in more relaxed attire.

I’m not much of a fashionista, but I had a lot of fun picking out their wardrobes with the help of my 15-year-old daughter Hannah. We put the trio of princesses in less regal yet fashion-forward Disneybounding outfits that stayed true to their traditional color palettes.

The simple costume choices allowed me to focus more on the interpersonal relationships between the individual princesses as well as their romantic entanglements with Indiana Jones.


Buy the book

Read the blog

Sample chapters
Prologue: Once Upon a Time
Chapter 1: Wonderful World of Disney
Chapter 2: A Whole New World
Chapter 3: Exile on Main Street USA
Chapter 4: Evil Plans
Chapter 5: Real Princesses of Disneyland
Chapter 6: Action Figure
Chapter 7: Code R
Chapter 8: Common Foes
Chapter 9: Peace, Love & Mickey
Chapter 10: Operation Death Star

Chapter 11: Frozen Ever After