Kennywood's The Steel Curtain will remain closed for the 2024 season, the park announced today.
The S&S coaster has been plagued with downtimes since its 2019 debut, so the park has opted for "an extensive modification project" this year, in hopes that the coaster can operate more reliably in the future.
"We understand the frustration many of you have felt not being able to experience Steel Curtain. On behalf of our entire team, we absolutely share that frustration with you," Kennywood Assistant General Manager Ricky Spicuzza said. "Over the past several months, we have worked with third-party engineers and the rides manufacturer to come up with a long term solution to increase its reliability and longevity."
"Our ultimate goal is obviously to ensure that The Steel Curtain is part of everyone's Kennywood experience once the ride reopens."
In the meantime, enjoy our on-ride video of The Steel Curtain, as well as Russell Meyer's media preview day review.
To keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
And to help support Theme Park Insider while saving money on discounted theme park tickets, please follow the ticket icon links on our Theme Park visitors guides.
It's a good thing they figured this out 3 days before the park opens for the season.
Sad news since I have a return visit to Kennywood on my plan for this year, but fortunately I got a chance to ride Steel Curtain on my previous visit in 2021. While the ride is not one of the best coasters ever, it's still a really fun ride that's very unique and probably my second favorite in the park. Hopefully whatever they're doing will fix the issues with the ride once and for all, because I believe this coaster has had significant reliability issues four of its first five seasons and that is not great for a signature attraction.
I went to Kennywood for my first (and only) time at the end of August 2023, and unfortunately, Steel Curtain was closed then too. As a coaster enthusiast and a passionate NFL fan, I’m getting worried I may never have the chance to ride this attraction.
I think it's pretty telling that Kennywood has engaged with "3rd Party Engineers" to try to solve the issues plaguing this coaster. I noted in my initial review that this coaster was a departure from S&S's core products that revolved around pneumatic launches along with the 4-D Free-spin coasters which are an extension of the "X" technology gained from the acquisition of Arrow Dynamics. For those that have ridden the coaster, you've probably seen the on-train tech used to manage the restraints and other feedback to the ops panel. This "tech" is housed in weatherproof boxes that look like they're off the shelf from Boat US, and the components inside look like they're from Radio Shack. I'm not necessarily saying that the issues stem from these components (Kennywood hasn't said what the issues are, so they could be structural for all we know), but I though it was telling that critical systems appeared to be a bit of an afterthought, and just bolted onto the back of each car and composed primary of what appeared to be off-the-shelf parts, not custom-engineered components integrated into the train design.
My hunch is that there's some litigation coming.
@Jacob - IDK. My understanding is that S&S has been working with the park to try to solve the issues for a number of years, so they've provided plenty of support from what I've heard. I recall reading when this coaster was announced that Kennywood got a pretty sweet deal on the coaster despite its size and record-breaking stats. It sounds like the park has pretty much gotten what they paid for, a nice looking piece of art that seemed like a bargain of a world-class roller coaster from a company that had mixed results in the coaster market up to that point (see Hypersonic XLC and Dadonpa). This was more or less a "prototype" coaster for S&S (much like Hypersonic was 18 years prior), and Kennywood should have known there was risk, particularly given the price point that was reported at $20 million.
For comparison, Copperhead Strike and Yukon Striker, which also debuted in 2019, cost $26 and $25 millions, respectively.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Most unfortunate. I was fortunate enough to ride it 7 consecutive times during a Coasting For Kids event and 6 consecutive times at the same event a year later. It's a true original. Never saw anything like it and probably never will. It's also a very complicated piece of machinery. Building this was a pretty ambitious project. I just wish they could get it back on track sooner. As a friend who saw the news remarked, it's not a tried and true B&M. That was good for a laugh.