Beastie was a

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

family roller coaster made by

Pinfari F.lli Pinfari S.r.l was an Italian amusement ride manufacturing company based in Suzzara, Italy. Pinfari was liquidated on 15 July 2004, due to the early 2000s recession and the weakness of the United States dollar. In 2007, its brand and intelle ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The coaster was located in the Adventure Land area of

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often referred to as Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments Group and incorporates a theme park, water park, ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The ride featured a tunnel and performed two laps of the circuit each run. Originally opening in the Festival Park (now Dark Forest) area of the park under the name Mini-Dragon, it allowed younger visitors of the park to experience the thrill of a roller coaster. It was renamed in 1987 to just the "Dragon". In 1993 it was then moved to the Thunder Valley section of the park where it assumed the name "Beastie" after a larger roller coaster in the area, called The Beast. It stayed here for several years, up to the 1998 season when it was moved to the Adventure Land section of the park. The ride was very compact and contained several head chopper effects. In 2009, it became the Alton Towers' oldest operating roller-coaster following the closure of the

Corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attached to a hand ...

the previous year. In early 2011, it was revealed that Beastie would not be operating again. It was removed from the park just before the 2013 season and was eventually sold to an independent ride operator, who renamed the coaster as Dragon Challenge, which currently operates at

Barry Island Pleasure Park Barry Island Pleasure Park is an amusement park situated on the coast at Barry Island in the Vale of Glamorgan, about south west of the capital city Cardiff, Wales. The park opened annually at weekends from Easter onwards and daily during the sc ...

. In 2015, Octonauts Rollercoaster Adventure, a

Zamperla Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. is an Italian design and manufacturing company founded in 1966. It is best known for creating family rides, thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The company also makes smaller coin-operated rides commonly found in ...

family coaster, opened on where Beastie once stood. The site of the coaster is now part of CBeebies Land.

References

External links

Beastie at Alton Towers AlmanacBeastie at Towers Nerd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beastie (Roller Coaster) Roller coasters in the United Kingdom Roller coasters operated by Merlin Entertainments Alton Towers