Lost Island Theme Park is a family-owned park located in Waterloo, Iowa that opened in 2022 across from its sister park Lost Island Waterpark, which opened in 2001. Sitting on 90 acres on the shores of a small lake, Lost Island currently features 24 attractions divided into five themed realms.
The Lost Island, known as Auk Modu in its native tongue Aukipi, is an enchanted tropical island home to four Elemental Nations - The Udara Air Society, the Awa Water Nomads, the Yuta Earth Tribe, and the Mura Fire Clan with a fifth group, the Tamariki nature spirits, working to keep the elements in balance. Long ago, Lost Island was nearly destroyed by a great unbalance. While a rogue Tamariki of Wealth named Kanu became consumed by greed and banished from the fold, the warriors of Mura turned their strength against their neighbors and pillaged their neighbors for treasures, the Yuta began overexploiting their natural resources, and the Awa and Udara became more distant from their home with their long expeditions at sea and their floating city respectively. All of this came to a head when Kanu became the fire demon Volkanu, who sought to consume the land in a fiery vengeance. The realms, brought together by this common enemy, were able to imprison Volkanu beneath the island's volcano in the Temple of Fire and forged the golden Ora Tika Idol to contain him. Having felt partially responsible for Volkanu's rise, the Mura vowed to guard the idol and the realms worked together to rebuild and restore their home. Peace was kept for many years, but the idol has been stolen and Volkanu and his lava minions are on the rise again and this time, the islanders are looking for extra help - you!
While only a handful of attractions currently tap into the story, including the queues of the drop tower Skyborne and the log flume Yuta Falls as well as the park's signature dark ride Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol, the park also features a number of walkaround characters representing the four realms as well as a companion app, Lost Island Adventure Guide and other supplementary material.
Lost Island contains examples of:
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Foxes are known as "Yikyiks", sea turtles are called "Tukas", and otters are known as "Awaati" among other things.
- Climactic Volcano Backdrop: The Lost Island Adventure Guide's encouraged counter clockwise path through the park positions Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol as the grand finale to the story.
- Coat Full of Contraband: Yamil the Spice Merchant operates this way, keeping various trinkets and plastic critters in the pockets of his cloak to trade for colorful stones found in the Pengali Ruins dig box.
- Conlang: Aukipi, which is used to add an extra layer of encryption to messages hidden around the park as well as being used by some of the park's characters. A small Aukipi pocket dictionary was made available for the 2023 season.
- Floating Island: The Udara built a floating city above the island that ended up crashing down to the surface from the volcanic blast caused by Volkanu's emergence. The Udara have been experimenting with a floating metal called Udarinium to try and rebuild, with the drop tower at Skyborne serving as a means of levitation testing.
- Giant Squid: The Eeki Eeki, centerpiece of the Eeki Eeki Escape spinner ride.
- The Great Serpent: Matugani, the Emerald Serpent, is a giant snake that serves as the basis for a launch coaster in the Yuta Realm. When the Yuta were trapped in their mines by an earthquake during Volkanu's original attack, it guided them to the surface and helped guide them towards living in balance with nature.
- Living Lava: Besides Volkanu and his various minions seen in the dark ride, Rokava is a petrified lava monster emerging from the side of the volcano as the backdrop of a top spin ride of the same name.
- Meaningful Name: The Tamariki, childlike nature spirits that preside over the park's children's area, borrow their name from the Maori word for children.
- Power Crystal: The Yuta Earth Tribe's elemental power source is the Agatu Gem mounted atop Pengali Ruins that collects The Power of the Sun to promote natural growth. Additionally, Pengali Ruins are a source of Yunti Stones, with crystals being utilized in the Volkanu attraction's Thermal Equalizers and in Windicators, wands used by the Udara for scientific and mystic purposes.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Volkanu
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: The Tamariki, who wear hoods over their horned heads.
- Sssssnake Talk: Matugani speaks this way in her coaster's safety spiel.
- Steampunk: The primary motif of the Udara Air Society, inventors who have build a variety of flying machines. Gears from failed experiments can be found in the pavement throughout the realm.
- Terrifying Tiki: The six mysterious thieves that stole the Ora Tika were turned into a set of tiki sentinels by Volkanu to guard the idol.
- Zeppelins from Another World: Can be seen among the Udara blueprints shown in Skyborne.
