Long ago, the realms of Lost Island lived in harmony – the floating air kingdom of Udara; the water nomads of Awa; the wise earth protectors of Yuta, the fierce fiery warriors of Mura... All was at peace.
…Until Volkanu emerged. A molten demon forged in the fiery depths, Volkanu’s roiling rage threatned to shatter the realms and destory Lost Island forever. Only one hope remained. Guided by the Tamariki spirit guardians, the realms united to forge a golden idol imbued with the strength of all four elements: the Ora-Tika. Placed on the altar of the Fire Temple, the Ora-Tika sealed Volkanu away…
And so long as the Ora-Tika remains, Volkanu awaits… his rage growing stronger with each passing day…
It’s not every day that a genuinely new, world-class dark ride opens in the United States. It’s even rarer that such an attraction debuts outside the big budget domains of Disney and Universal Parks and their coastal, destination resorts. In fact, so unique are new regional, dark ride experiences that when a Six Flags, Cedar Fair, or Herschend park manages to open one, it feels like a modern day wonder.
Which is why the emergence of a truly world-class, modern dark ride – one packed not just with screens, but with Audio-Animatronics, motion, projection, flames, theatrical tricks, and a homemade, original mythology – should send dark ride enthusiasts the world over scurrying to learn more…
Today, we’ll explore VOLKANU: Quest for the Golden Idol at Lost Island Theme Park to discover the incredible mythology and impressive moments you’ll find in this brand new, multi-sensory dark ride adventure! So button up your khakis, pull on your boots, and get ready for an adventure into the unknown…
The Legend of Lost Island
In this case, “long ago” isn’t as far back as you might think. Opening in the summer of 2022, Lost Island Theme Park in Waterloo, Iowa has the distinction of being one of the newest from-scratch parks in North America… That’s notable in itself, as it’s not every day, year, or even decade that a sizable new theme park opens in the United States.
Even rarer, though, is a park that aspires to be more than merely a collection of rides… and that’s exactly what Lost Island is. Clearly a concept born of the post-Wizarding-World era of the themed entertianment design industry, Lost Island was crafted by BDR Design Group of Cincinnati. Working with the park’s owners – the local Bertch family, who got their start with the world-class Lost Island Waterpark decades ago – BDR developed a from-scratch theme park hinging on surprising detail, unexpected depth, and a completely original, park-wide story that turns Lost Island into a living adventure.
The results are charming at worst and spectacular at best – that here, in this place, could exist such a lovingly-crafted, master-planned, from-scratch build. One where each realm is adorned with its own textures, colors, lampposts, and characters…
An air realm of cloud rocks, pinwheels, pedal-propellers, and soaring flat rides all decked out in the cogs, gears, and wise purple of the Udaran kingdom; a water realm of thatch-roofed Awa huts, tropical murals, sand play areas, and jaw-droppingly customized family flat rides; an earth realm littered with rocky Yutan temple ruins and dig pits beneath the Totara Tree; the fire village of Mura, with its extreme thrill rides set on the shores of an inner lagooon…
Frankly, we’re enamored with Lost Island – this “Little Engine That Could” of a park set on a 30 acre lagoon in the midst of the soybean sprawl of Iowa. If you haven’t already, be sure to take a look through our realm-by-realm tour of the park, celebrating just how clever and customized this “I can’t believe they pulled it off” project is. Every flat ride customized; an indoor queue and pre-show for its drop tower; an app-based adventure game exploring the Island’s history; custom plush of the park’s Tamariki spirit guardians…
Some critics say Lost Island is too ambitious for its audience. Others suggest it’s not ambitious enough, lacking the ride count and coasters to rival Des Moines’ Adventureland several hours southwest. And it’s true that this young park is – for better and worse – a newborn, with freshly-laid paths, vibrant paint colors, young plantings, little shade, and a tiny two-coaster collection. But in its imagination alone, Lost Island would’ve been a bucket list park. That status is made even more certain by its anchoring dark ride…
Ride, Sally, Ride!
Few dark ride enthusiasts would be surprised to find that Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol was developed by industry favorites, Sally Corporation. If you’ve been on a dark ride outside of a Disney or Universal Park, chances are good that Sally has been involved.
If you’ve been on a Ghost Blasters at a boardwalk, amusement park, or a mall; a Boo Blasters at one of Cedar Fair’s parks; a Scooby Doo and the Something-or-Other; Holiday World’s Gobbler Getaway; Hersheypark’s retired Reese’s X-Treme Cup Challenge, or LEGOLAND’s Lost Kingdom Adventure, then you’re familiar with the foundation of Sally’s catalogue: classic, blacklight, blaster-based attractions that send guests through flat, ultraviolet scenes activating cutout characters and simple effects. It works, and these nice little rides offer guests at many parks one of their few chances to escape the weather and experience a little taste of a “Disney” style experience!
But lest you think Sally isn’t capable of more, take a look through the company’s portfolio and you may be surprised…
No less than seven Six Flags parks have rolled out Justice League: Battle for Metropolis – a Sally installation that uses motion-simulator-base vehicles, physical sets, screens, and Audio-Animatronics to astounding effect. The same ingredients went into PortAventura’s Sesame Street: Street Mission in 2019. There’a slo the legendary Labyrinth of the Minotaur at Spain’s Terra Mítica – a trackless dark ride with three exit points, ensuring that only vehicles that score high enought make it to the ride’s final scene.
In other words, borrowing some of the key innovations of the Modern Marvels: Indiana Jones Adventure and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and making them accessible for smaller, regional parks, Sally’s multi-media dark rides are astounding in their own right, and top-of-class.
Of course, Sally also develops original concepts available for purchase. In 2010, the firm announced the availability of a new attraction they deemed “Forbidden Island” – a blacklight-based, adventurous alternative to the popular Ghost Blasters.
As the firm began to experiment with the kinds of innovative and ambitious multi-media elements that would power Justice League: Battle for Metropolis and Sesame Street: Street Mission, their “adventurous” take on the laser-blasting genre got an upgraded option, too: “Volcankus 4-D,” sending guests to collect ancient gems whose power would recapture a rampant god of fire born of a volcano’s heart.
It stands to reason that either could’ve been easily bought and set down in Lost Island, whether a “flat,” blacklight Forbidden Island ride or a mixed-media Volcanikus install. The former would seem more likely, anyway, given Lost Island’s upstart nature where an adventurous Ghost Blasters would be enough, right? But instead, Drew Hunter (Vice President at Creative Design at Sally) recounted in a blog post how Lost Island’s owners were thinking big.
Not only did Lost Island’s owners prefer the more ambitious, elaborate, and expensive Volkanicus ride concept – already a pretty outlandishly luxurious installation for Iowa, mind you – but they insisted that the mythology and iconography of Lost Island’s realms was simply too great to ignore. Fusing Sally’s design with the existing characters and lore of Lost Island, a whole new product emerged… Ready to step inside?
The quest for the golden idol begins in the fire realm of Mura. It’s a land of scorched earth, lava flows, and some of Lost Island’s most extreme thrill rides. There’s the inverting Mura Fury frisbee, the Shaman’s Curse Disk-o coaster, and the Mondial Rollover Rokava. (As with each of Lost Island’s realms, there’s also an interactive “play” element – here, the Makatu Shrine, which tasks guests with collaborating to touch ancient handprints, building to create a torrent of lava and molten geysers in the pool at the volcano’s base.)
While every other realm is anchored by a thrill ride (the Nopuko air coaster and Matugani earth coaster are the park’s main thrill rides), the realm of fire is instead home to Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol.
The journey begins in Mura’s Temple of Fire – a ceremonial place entered via winding lava chambers beneath the volcano. Ancient cave paintings tell the story of Lost Island and its struggle against the destruction of Volkanu. When the fire demon awoke last time, his destruction was vast.
(In fact, Volkanu’s last emergence is the reason that the air kingdom of Udara came crashing back to Earth, and why – generations later – its inventors and scientists still device mechanisms meant to return their people to the skies… a story further explored in the indoor queue for Udara’s Skyborne launch tower.)
Only through the creation of the golden Ora-Tika idol was Volkanu trapped at last… But of course, ushered into a smaller ceremonial chamber containing weaponry from each of the four realms, we learn that something has gone wrong…
After centuries, the golden Ora-Tika has been stolen from its altar in the Temple of Fire. With the idol gone, Volkanu cannot be stopped. Beneath us right now, the fire demon grows in molten rage, certain to return and destroy Lost Island for good.
We have just one chance: the Island’s spirit guardians – the Tamariki – have once again brought the four realms together to create Thermal Equalizers, able to snuff out Volkanu’s fiery vengeance through a combination of all four elements.
Our mission is simple: Find the Ora-Tika. Return it to the Temple of Fire. Place it on the altar. And seal Volkanu away forever.
Having risen to the challenge, the queue proceeds through the stone chambers of the temple, where an astounding animatronic of an ancient Mura shaman offers his sage advice:
VOLKANU: Quest for the Golden Idol
With Volkanu’s power growing my the minute, our time is short. If we want to save Lost Island from Volkanu’s reemergence, the only path is forward… Our journey begins at the edge of the Temple of Fire, where molten lava flows suggest that the temperature is quickly rising…
There we encounter the Inferno Transport. Crafted by the Tamariki, these fire-proof vehicles can withstand the heat of the temple. More to the point, make no mistake: as steam hisses from cracks in the earth, ahead you’ll spot a giant stone replica of the Ora-Tika itself…
Carved with the symbols of each of the elements, the Ora-Tika depicts a Tamariki guardian. But unlike the friendly plush version you’ll find in Lost Island’s Ara Matua merchandise shop or the friendly walkaround version of these goat-horned, sprite-like creatures with unseen faces and glowing eyes, the Ora-Tika is a protector, hands clasped in prayer and adorned with a protective bodice bearing the symbols of Udara, Awa, Yuta, and Mura.
Baskets of fresh fruit, flowers, urns, and candles at its base suggest that the people of Lost Island recognize – even centuries after its creation – that the Ora-Tika is all that stood between them and Volkanu’s wrath… and now, it’s up to us to find it and restore peace.
The gates of the Temple swing open, releasing us back into the jungles of Lost Island. Once out of view of the loading area, the Inferno Transport cleverly reveals its capabilities, rumbling to life as beginning to undulate as it turns. First, riders come face-to-face with six evil tiki statues – as we learned in the pre-show, all that’s left of the foolish thieves who removed the Ora-Tika from its altar. With the thieves eliminated, the Ora-Tika appears, pulled onto the Transport.
Of course, getting the Ora-Tika was easy. Getting back to the heart of the Temple of Fire? Not so much. With Lost Island’s volcano exploding in the distance, we get out first glimpse at the shapeless, molten demon himself. We’re too late – Volkanu is free. And that means that he and his lava creatures are out for us.
Around the corner, ashes fall from the sky as soil begins to simmer and plants burn. Fiery comets seem to have impacted the rocky landscape, tossed skyward in the eruption. Another lands nearby, with smoke hissing from the impact. In an ancient stone temple ahead, flames are magically replaced by the Mura Shaman (via a wonderful Pepper’s ghost effect – the same parlor trick that brings the ghostly ballroom dancers of Disney’s Haunted Mansion to life): “Now, travel to the Temple of Fire! Place Ora-Tika on the altar and defeat Volkanu!” As we pull away, a real, searing burst of fire erupts.
The Transports pull into the teetering stone columns of the temple, guarded by a three-headed molten cerberus, roaring as steam pours from its body. The Transports back away, only to come up to a seeming dead end: now, via projection, riders blast away a stone wall, revealing a cavernous descent deeper into the temple.
Volkanu’s minions – a gigantic scorpion and snake made of volcanic rock and lava – unleash an army of bats. Blasting through them, the Transport advances, now re-entering a physical scene: a deep earth cavern where a steaming animatronic lava creature unfurls its wings, screeching as riders blast it with their Thermal Equalizers.
In an almost-abstract moment, riders pass by a projection-mapped volcanic vent with a human face; its mouth opens to reveal churning flames within.
Then, having reached the depths of the volcano, deep under the Temple of Fire, the final showdown begins. Riders blast through a pair of lava guardians who hurl flaming boulders, while flapping bats and slithering snakes offer easy points for sharp-shooters. But ahead, the golden gates of the Ora-Tika’s shrine beckon…
By way of a giant screen, the Transports at last enter the shrine. A few last baddies can’t halt the inevitable: the Ora-Tika is beamed back into its place. As for Volkanu? As riders’ victory sets in, the giant molten creature claws its way up from the lava pools below. Noticing the Ora-Tika, it makes one last effort, crawling face-first after us as we back away helplessly, back through the shrine’s gates…
Volkanu’s hand reaches after us, clawing out to the vehicle. But it’s too late. With Volkanu roaring from within, the golden gates slam closed, leaving only puddles of cooling lava dripped from the monster…
Thanks to us, Lost Island is saved…. But not without a final reminder that Volkanu will always be waiting… Now, take a ride through this unexpectedly-ambitious dark ride thanks to our friends at Attractions 360, whose unbeatable low-light ride throughs actually make the ride look even brighter and clearer than it does in real life!
The Gold Standard
Experiencing Volkanu: Quest for the Golden Idol, there’s really only one thing to say: it’s sensational. A totally unexpected triumph for a small, regional newcomer in the industry, it really is a dark ride that should leave us all salivating: bold, ambitious, creative, and original.
Does Volkanu give Lost Island an equivalent of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? Of course not. But for seasonal park to so beautifully balance a homemade intellectual property with the big budget theatrics and storytelling of a dark ride in this way… it’s really sensational. Remember, this isn’t a park with the backing of a corporate parent like even a Six Flags, so this investment in a really-for-real headlining dark ride is just incredible. It’s exactly the kind of investment in original IP we love.
Speaking of which, as any reasonable person would want to do after experiencing a from-scratch dark ride built of homemade mythology and packed with iconic imagery you wouldn’t expect from a seasonal, regional park… you’ve gotta buy your own Ora-Tika from the Treasure Trove gift shop at the ride’s exit!
Though it may sound wild to place a newborn theme park in Iowa on your bucket list, trust us – Volkanu is the wonderful cherry on top of a sensational industry project we should all be rooting for…
