Astro Storm is an enclosed, sit down

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

Brean Leisure Park Brean Leisure Park is an amusement park in the coastal resort of Brean, near Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, England. The park covers an area of . Brean Leisure Park is open from March to November every year. The park has also been a concert venue fo ...

Brean Brean is a village and civil parish between Weston-super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset, England. The name is derived from "Bryn"; Brythonic and Modern Welsh for a hill. It has a population of 635. Close to the village is Brean Down, a p ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, created by German amusement ride manufacturer

Zierer Zierer Karussell- und Spezialmaschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG (Short name: Zierer ) is a German company located close to Deggendorf. Zierer manufactures ESC and Force line of roller coasters, as well as panoramic wheels, wave swingers, flying car ...

. It used to be located at

Pleasure Beach Blackpool Pleasure Beach Resort, best known by its former name Blackpool Pleasure Beach, is an amusement park situated on Blackpool, Blackpool's South Shore, Blackpool, South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. The park was founded i ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

where it was known as ''Space Invader 2''.

History

Space Invader opened on 21 August 1984, and wa
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
s fourth steel roller coaster. The ride itself was constructed by

, a German ride manufacturer. The original ride was similar to the ride as it is today. In 2000, a young boy died after reportedly unbuckling his safety belt in a panic. It was refurbished in 2003 by Kumbak Coasters and reopened in 2004 as "Space Invader 2". In September 2008, the ride closed following a failed evacuation during operating hours. It was removed in June 2010 and announced to be sold to Brean Leisure Park in July 2010. The ride was refurbished and renamed 'Astro Storm' prior to its opening in 2011.

The ride

After leaving the station, the cars make a 90° turn to the right and are carried to the top of a chain-lift hill; the cars then descend a 59ft drop in the dark, at an incline angle of 36°. The ride then has several drops, banked turns and helixes, before cars reach the brake run and return to the station to be unloaded. Astro Storm operates with single-car trains. Riders are arranged in three rows for a total of three riders per car with a T-bar restraint. When it was the Space Invader at Blackpool, the ride used cars which were able to carry 4 people and riders were restrained by a

seatbelt A seat belt, also known as a safety belt or spelled seatbelt, is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduce ...

Theming

When it was ''Space Invader 2'', the ride was themed around a journey through space and was decorated with glow-in-the-dark pictures of stars, planets, and aliens. The queue and loading area were themed around a space station, with various signs telling riders the wait time to board their ride vehicles. Parts of the queue were themed around the

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

films, such as a statue of

Han Solo Han Solo () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the 1977 film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', and later appeared in ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''Star Wars: The F ...

stuck in carbonite. ''Astro Storm'' however has a different approach with regard to theming. The outside queue area is themed and has a queue line video. A video tells you that "Astro Tours" is going to take you on a journey through space. Once the train starts, riders proceed through a set of doors followed by a screen with a man exclaiming "Abort!". The shouting continues as riders continue up the chain lift. At the apex, the rider is met with strobe lights and sirens while the rest of the ride is in pitch black, except some slight lighting effects on the trim brakes.

Incidents

On 21 July 2000, 11-year-old Christopher Sharett died after he fell out of the ride vehicle. Authorities ruled his death as 'accidental' since he panicked and unbuckled his seatbelt before being hit by another cart.

References

{{Authority control Blackpool Pleasure Beach Roller coasters introduced in 1984 Roller coasters in the United Kingdom Amusement rides that closed in 2008