This week when I was doing blog post on my ParkHopping.com site about how taking photos has changed between 1996 when I got my first digital camera and 2026, thirty years (!) later.
I realized … I did not have those tour photos in my gallery. They were not “photos of specific stuff” so I never added them. But, hey, preserve! A bad photo is better than no photo.
I have revised the Disneyland gallery and added these photos to the 1997 album.
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:
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.
Lost Island Matugani lockerLost Island Fire Runner locker
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:
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…
Lost Island Lokolo 2026
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 😉
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.
Thunderation sign in its final year of operation (2026).
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
I have also spent some time regenerating all the other galleries to shut off that annoying “cookie” pop-up, as well as updating the main page banner with links to the other galleries.
You can find them all here:
https://misc.disneyfans.com – Other places, such as Branson Missouri. There are even photos from a Gallagher (R.I.P.).
Another small batch of photos has been added the the Misc. gallery. These include images from the new VR experience Truth Traveller, plus restaurants like Steamy Joe Cafe, Hidden Pines, and more.
I had completely forgot that while we were in town last year, we took a ride share over to one of the resorts and then explored the Skyliner routes. (Probably the “cheapest” day to spend in Orlando, if you don’t stop and buy food and drink while visiting them 😉
I am still going through the VR360 footage and uploading it to my Park Hopping in VR YouTube Channel as time permits:
There are a few nighttime ones taken at Universal Epic Universe in the Dark Universe area of the park. They are pretty cool to watch, even if the low-light quality is pretty poor. It is a much more accurate way to “see” what it is like in that immersive area compared to photos.
I also have a similar on walking through the portal (green pipe) to Super Nintendo World all the way to the entrance to Donkey Kong Country. These, and more, will be showing up soon-ish.
Meanwhile, my submission to Google Street View of the walking path from Stella Nova Resort to the entrance of Universal Epic Universe has been processing for 11 days so far. While it is promising that it did not get rejected the first day, as often is the case (gaps in the GPS signal being the usual suspect), it is bothersome that it is taking this long. I am now bracing for some new error telling me to try again.
