…except any that I forgot to include.
Lost Island theme park year five
2026 marks the fifth year of operation for Iowa’s Lost Island Theme Park. You can see photos of the parks growth and progress from 2022 to current in my Theme Parks gallery:
https://www.disneyfans.com/photos/themeparks/LostIsland/index.html
What’s new for 2026?
Each year the park has added something, though not always by plan. The park had intended to have more rides operating in opening year but some were delayed until following seasons (one due to a fire). In 2024 they announced they would be building a brand new roller coaster, Fire Runner, which opened during the 2025 season. For 2026, they added an enhancement to that coaster, and added new interactive targets to their Awaati Battle water ride.
Each year there have also been other updates that did not appear in park announcements. For example, new trees have been planted each season. Though not confirmed by the park, we were told there were 26 new trees added this year, and a similar amount last year. In the decades to come, the park should grow into a lush landscape of vegetation.
We also spotted new water canons that were added to the interactive Makatu Shrine in the Mura (fire) realm. Although the four of us could not get the shrine effects to trigger this trip, we did see the water canons operating (on a timer, perhaps) throughout the day.
Some changes were, perhaps, not for be better, but possibly needed due to the operational reality of low crowd levels. Over at Thirsty Voyager, the only spot in the park with adult beverages, the draft beers had been removed. Only canned drinks were available. This means the refill cups we have collected over the past four years are no longer good for a discounted beer. On a brighter side, some new offerings were available (and not even in the sales system yet as of our visit), including two Iowa-made ciders and a flavored wheat beer from a California brewery.
There was also new storage cubes added outside of the green Matugani roller coaster as well as the orange Fire Runner coaster. (We have noticed most folks refer to the coasters by their color, rather than the actual names.) Unlike other parks we have visited, these were not at the loading area or even in the queue for the rides. They were outside along the lanes. While I would never want to leave my camera equipment or cell phone unsecured like that (and we did see cubes with phones just sitting there), security told us there had not been any issues so far. They also said these were temporary with a better solution being planned.
There were certainly more changes than these we noticed, but I will save those for a followup post later.
Until then…
Which realm do you belong to?
Similar to how Harry Potter fans can take surveys to tell them which “house” they belong to, Lost Island has a survey you can take to tell you which of their realms you belong to:
https://lostislandthemepark.supersurvey.com/PO9SX1EP
Based on my answers this time, I should be part of their air realm, Udara.
This park certainly “punches above its weight” with so many details and fun things to discover than at most large corporate parks (I’m looking at you modern Disney).
The park’s app, for example, allows you to collect badges and such just by having it running as you visit various areas or rides. There are stickers throughout the park that mark locations where you can collect such virtual items. You may even have to look up to find them 😉
We have no idea how many there, but I expect this gives locals (season passes are available) many quests to embark on during their visits throughout the year.
Do you hear what I am saying?
Probably the most interesting aspect of this park, which was not new for 2026, was the backstory of Lost Island itself. The park has its own unique characters that represent each of the five realms. In the morning, a show is presented in the entrance area that tells this story. It also ties directly in to the story of their 4-D shooter dark ride, Volkanu.
As you encounter these characters throughout the day, you will notice they greet you in a language known as Aukipi. This is the official language of Lost Island – and you will see it on signage throughout the park. For instance, the lands themselves:
- Awa – water
- Mura – fire
- Tamariki – spirit
- Udara – air
- Yuta – earth
If you want to learn it, they now have the second edition of their language dictionary available. We have both editions, and were noticing how many new words have been added, as well as changes to how the number system is done.
Heck, the Aukipi Dictionary is even printed in Iowa!
There is so much to love about this park, especially if you are more of a “theme” fan than a “ride” fan. Sure, you can just go and ride all the rides (and with the low crowds, you can ride them ALOT with little to no wait), but if you want to dig deeper, there is a whole backstory to learn, and a language that will explain just what this means…
Ummi Ummi means “food.” So this food stand is literally called “Foods”.
The same worker who pointed this out also told us about this one…
This kiddie coaster, themed as a caterpillar, is called Lokolo – the Aukipi word for … caterpillar.
Once you start to realize this, a new layer of the park appears. But now that we know this, we are a bit surprised the restrooms don’t say wakatiki — but when you gotta go, you shouldn’t need a translating dictionary to figure out where the restrooms are 😉
Crowd levels
This was our first time visiting near the opening of the season, and during the weekend that marked the start of the parks daily operations. Crowd levels were, sadly, nonexistent. Only a handful of folks were in the park to watch the opening show, and we never encountered more than a handful of folks ahead of us at any ride. That is awesome for visitors, but not for the park.
Frankly, this is a great time to go check out Lost Island. Our friends drove two hours to get there, as did we. They visited for the first time last year and were surprised they could ride so many things during their time. They noted they could have just driven across town to their local Adventureland park but even with four extra hours they spent driving to Waterloo, they still got to do more things and have more fun at Lost Island. Plus, parking was only $10 instead of $21.
If you have a chance to see this unique park, please consider doing so soon. Either the park grows in popularity and get crowded, or not enough people show up and the park will go away. Right now you can help the park grow, and enjoy the low crowds that won’t be there in the future, one way or the other 😉
Until next time … Imo’e!
More Silver Dollar City photos…
A new batch of photos taken at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri has been added to the Theme Parks gallery:
https://www.disneyfans.com/photos/themeparks
Not too many in this batch, but I did add photos of the Thunderation queue. This year (2026 for those of you reading from the future) is the final year of this coaster in the park. According to the Coasterpedia, Thunderation opened in 1993.
Just as we got to the loading area, the ride went down, so timing was good to at least get photos of the queue area.
White Water water park goes cashless
White Water water park in Branson, Missouri (part of the Silver Dollar City resort) went cashless this year. Leave you dollars and change at home, unless you plan to exchange it in a kiosk machine that will load cash onto a card.
Comments in various Silver Dollar City groups have reported that these cards will deduct fees if you keep money on them, so load just what you need or you may be making a contribution to White Water 😉
VR360 Ye Olde English Inn- Hollister, MO
Testing a 360 photo here on this blog… You should be able to click and look all around in this image. To see it full screen, click the “VR” logo on the bottom right of the image.
Photos from a 100+ year old haunted inn…
…and more, added to the Misc gallery. The count of photos from the Branson, Missouri area is now over 10,000. New this update:
- Ye Olde English Inn – built in the early 1910s, this historic hotel is still open for business. And may be haunted.
- Hollister, MO (home of the inn and other businesses)
- Silver Dollar City’s Showboat – the renamed Branson Belle, with an all-new show.
- Classic Rock Icons – tribute show at the newly opened Showroom at Branson Meadows. See the guy who plays Johnny Cash playing … Gene Simmons!
- Made in the USA General Store – this place tries to only sell items made in America… and the store is LOADED with stuff. We stop by every time we drive down to see what is new.
- It’s Magic – fun shops are rare these days, but we found one. (I only did VR inside of this place, but I wanted to post it here to see if I can get it to show up in search engines. They have no website or Facebook page, but have been in business for over 20 years.)
- Butterfly Palace construction – they are expanding. It is always hard to tell when the economy is bad or when it is good when you see large scale expansion projects like this one (and the new Silver Dollar City Resort, that we forgot to stop by and see the progress of).
- Retromania – we go for their escape rooms, but that gives access to the arcade/”museum”/mini golf/haunted house and some VR rides. They have a new Star Trek-inspired escape room, that we lost.
- …”and more.”
Some new VR stuff will be uploaded to Google Street View (of Silver Dollar City with two new area updates), and dozens of VR photos have been posted to Branson in VR on Facebook and also uploaded to various business Google entries.
Also, all of the Branson galleries have had some more organization done, splitting things into Attractions, Lodging, Restaurants, Shows, and Shops. If you are like me, you are mostly interested in seeing what the attractions are, so this makes it easier to find them.
Full gallery here:
https://www.disneyfans.com/photos/misc/OtherPlaces/index.html
Iowa’s Lost Island theme park bans cameras on rides.
Per a post to their official Facebook page, Lost Island Themepark (as they refer to it) in Waterloo, Iowa is the latest park to ban on-ride recording.
🚨 On-Ride Photo/Video Update 🚨
At Lost Island Themepark, we love the fact that our guests want to capture their day, sharing it with friends and family. For the safety of all guests and guides, we are updating our on-ride camera policy.
Moving forward, there will be NO cameras allowed on rides, no matter their securement method.If you are a content creator and want the chance to collaborate with Lost Island, we encourage influencers/media to contact us before your visit by filling out this form on our website. https://www.thelostisland.com/park-info/contact/influencer/
This is really only a minor change. Since opening year, recording on rides was not allowed unless the camera was physically harnessed to the rider. They were quite strict. I couldn’t even ride their Ferris Wheel one time because I was carrying a camera bag and did not want to leave it on the ground. 😉
Of course, even with these changes, many folks will still disregard the rules. You can find plenty of videos online from folks who don’t think rules apply to them.
The new policy matches what other larger parks have been doing for years. For example, Silver Dollar City only allows cameras on two rides: Flooded Mine (a slow moving indoor boat ride) and the steam train.
We just hope there wasn’t an incident that caused this new policy. If you have ever been to Universal Studios Florida, you will note how extreme they take their rules. You have to pass through metal detectors to board certain thrill rides and can’t bring anything with you. But, they had an incident where a guest was blinded by someone’s cell phone years ago.
What has your local park done?
America’s #1 aquarium photos added.
Ever notice how so many theme parks and other places state they are the “#1” in America? There are so many polls from places like USA Today that are referenced. Well, here is another one… According to whatever poll they use, the #1 aquarium for many years is … Wonders of Wildlife in Springfield, Missouri.
This is operated by the “Walt Disney of nature attractions”, Johnny Morris. He started Bass Prop Shops and is no stranger to elaborate theming. Even their restrooms are highly themed/decorated. Remember when top-dollar theme parks used to do that?
Photos from Wonders of Wildlife, as well as the nearby ride-thru Fantastic Caverns, have been added to my Misc gallery in the Missouri section:
https://www.disneyfans.com/photos/misc/OtherPlaces/Missouri/Springfield/index.html
Indiana Jones Adventure original warning sign photo wanted
Well, we are on a quest today… Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure has a warning sign just before you turn to go up the stairs over to the other side of the ride track to board. It was a nice, authentic looking wooden sign, but it did not last. Within a few years of opening, the sign was replaced with a mode modern-looking sign with lots of extra warnings. Here is a photo of the updated sign from 2003:
Since my first digital camera (first taken to Disneyland in 1996) had very limited storage, I never used any of that storage for a photo of the original sign. Had I known the sign was going to be replaced, I probably would have.
Do you have a photo of the original version of the sign? Please leave a comment if you do, or send me an e-mail: allen@disneyfans.com
Why does this website exist?
ParkHopping.com is over 22 years old. I registered this domain on January 1, 2004. New years day? Really? That seems weird, but that is what the WHOIS record says…
I always think of my original DisneyFans.com site as much older than ParkHopping.com, but it was only registered four years earlier in 2000.
The GeoPages Years (1995-1996)
www.geopages.com/SiliconValley/1842
However, my original site started in 1995 as a part of my “personal home page” at GeoPages.com. GeoPages, which was later renamed to GeoCities.com, offered a whopping 512K (if memory serves) of web page storage free! This, and a few similar free web hosting sites, were how quite a few of the “now ancient” theme park sites started (though few of us are still around, it seems).
I called my website “Al’s Place“. It contained sections for my local Iowa amusement park (“Al’s Adventureland InfoPages”), a section for the U.S. Disney parks, as well other sections for various hobbies and interests (such as laser tag).
Time Machine: The Internet Archive has a copy of that site, but the earliest copy they have is from January 1999:
https://web.archive.org/web/19990202065140/http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/1842
In 1996 I bought my first digital camera – an Epson PhotoPC. This let me take up to 16 “high resolution” 640 x 480 photos, or 32 at 320 x 240. At 55K (or so) per image, there was no way I could host very many photos on my free GeoCities site. Instead, at night I ran an FTP server on my laptop. Folks could dial in to the internet and “surf” to my laptop via a link on my personal home page and then download the photos I took from my trips… slowly…
Ah, current edge technology.
The Delphi Years (1997-1998)
people.delphi.com/os9al
At some point, GeoCities went away and I moved my site Delphi.com. Delphi started out in the 1980s — long before there even was a World Wide Web. It was a dial-up text service, similar to CompuServe or General Electric’s GEnie.
Side Note: GEnie was the first national text service I was on back in the late 1980s. It was through the GEnie Destination Florida RoundTable (messages, files and chat) section, which had a Walt Disney World and Disneyland section, that I learned about the coming Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. While I went on many many summer vacations to Disney World with my family (starting in the early 1970s), I had not been to Disneyland since Big Thunder Mountain was brand new. (Or maybe it was Space Mountain, and I saw Big Thunder in Florida for the first time.)
Time Machine: The Internet Archive has a copy of my Delphi site, and goes back to 1997 (with a 1996 copyright). This tells me I probably only spent two years at GeoPages/GeoCities:
https://web.archive.org/web/19970303031312/http://people.delphi.com:80/os9al/
The Simplenet Years (1998-1999)
disneyparks.simplenet.com
After buying an expensive memory upgrade for my camera that let me take up to 99 640 x 480 images, my photo gallery really began to grow. I realized I would have to pay for a hosting service to properly share my photos. That service ended up being an “unlimited” hosting provider known as Simplenet. I created a new site called “Al’s Media Archive Site.” Thanks to “unlimited” storage, I was able to share my entire gallery of thousands of theme park photos for the first time. I kept my Delphi site around for my non-theme park content.
Welcome to the temporary index page for the all new Al’s Place photo archive site. Here you will find over SEVEN THOUSAND digital photographs taken at theme parks and other amusement places such as Disneyland, Walt Disney World (Epcot Center, The Magic Kingdom, Disney/MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom), Universal Studios Florida, Six Flags Over Georgia, Paramount’s Great America, Kennywood (Pittsburgh, PA), Winchester Mystery House (San Jose, CA), Adventureland (Des Moines, IA), Various Renaissance Festivals (Iowa & Kansas), Color Computer Fests, …and more!
At some point, Yahoo! (if I recall correctly) purchased Simplenet and removed the unlimited hosting plans. This would make it cost prohibitive for me to share my galleries there. I needed a new hosting provider, and I would finally register my own domain name.
The StG Net Years (2000-200X)
April 23, 2000 – My photo archives are now hosted at www.DisneyFans.com and my renaissance festival pictures can be found at www.AtTheFaire.com. Please visit these sites and add them to your bookmark list.
A Letter from the Webmaster…
In the past few years I have been happy to share my photo album with many of you. Simplenet has served me very, very well and I cannot thank them enough for being a great high-performance, low cost web space provider. I have absolutely zero complaints about them and would recommend them in an instant.
I now find it time to move on to the next phase of things, and thus my photos have migrated to the new DisneyFans.com domain (with my renaissance festival pictures being hosted by AtTheFaire.com). I hope you will take a moment to visit these two sites and let us know what you think. Both are still under construction, but all the photos are uploaded and in-tact (or at least they seem to be — I haven’t verified all 11,000 of them myself).
Thanks so much for visiting! If you have any questions or comments about this, feel free to e-mail me. See you real soon! — Allen
This is where a friend I knew from my Radio Shack Color Computer days, Scott G., helped out. He had a dedicated server machine hooked to the Internet and was providing “unlimited” hosting plans for $7/month. I moved my website over to his server and registered the domain name DisneyFans.com. This is where I first became a web host provider, reselling accounts on his server. At its peak, I hosted dozens of Disney fan sites for others. I chose the name DisneyFans with the idea that people could be things like “hauntedmansion.disneyfans.com” and such. Buying a domain name was quite expensive in the early days ($75/year, which adjusted for inflation today would be … more), so offering subdomains made it much more affordable for folks.
Unrelated to this site, a few months after registering DisneyFans.com I also registered a similar site dedicated for digital photos and news from Midwest Renaissance festivals. Using the domain name for that site, I must have hosted close to 200 sites for merchants, performers and even a dozen or so festival webpages. (Though my Renaissance festival partner in crime, Lindsy, did most of the web design, and I just handled the technical stuff.)
Today, I no longer offer this service publicly, but still host over 70 websites. (As of this writing, I am scaling that operation way back, with a goal of having less than 50 active accounts. Hosting fees have been going up the past few years.)
But I digress…
And the Rest (200X-2009, 2009-current)
As some point, I moved to a commercial webhosting provider and spent some good years with them before they became bad years and I had to move everything to yet another commercial hosting provider.
Which brings us up to “modern” times…
Even though ParkHopping.com came into existence just a few years after DisneyFans.com, it was basically just a placeholder until I put up a WordPress blog in 2017 for one special purpose…
And a year later, I decided to start posting retro photo essays. I began going through my oldest digital photos and creating small blog posts discussing what things were like in the parks back in the 90s.
And this leads me to the topic of this post: why does this site exist?
Why does this site exist?
In the early years of the World Wide Web, most folks didn’t have computers. And of those that did have computers, most of them did not have a telephone modem to let them dial in to the Internet. And those that did have modems mostly used services like America Online (AOL), which were graphical national networks that basically killed off all the text services like Delphi and CompuServe. (Anyone remember PC-Link? MSN? AppleLink? Prodigy?)
All of the fan websites back then started out as personal home pages or subdomains. Those that survived eventually registered domain names when they got affordable. I got my first domain name by using a service called GANDI out of France to register my domains for about $12.
Once domains got cheap, we saw a bunch of sites all using “Disney” in their domain name. (Keep in mind, my website predates The Disney Company from having their own website! While Disney had the domain name for Internet use back in 1990, they didn’t put up an official Disney website until 1996!)
Once Disney joined the World Wide Web, they initially left the fan sites alone. But, in the early 2000s, Disneyland (and maybe Disney World too?) reportedly was not inviting any web site with “Disney” in the name to any special press events. This caused many fan sites to rebrand and reregister. This may be why we ended up with sites using Disney-adjacent names such as Laughing Place, Mouse Planet and MiceAge.
For me, ParkHopping.com was my “I better stop using Disney in my domain name” domain name. I had fully planned to migrate my entire site over to that new domain and be free and clear from any problems from The Mouse.
But … I never got around to it, and Disney never asked me to stop using DisneyFans.com
And now you know why this site exists.
It is amazing to think it all started 31 years ago (yipes!) with a free personal home page.
To be continued…?