Kennywood’s Steel Curtain rolling again after repairs over 4 days
The Steel Curtain, Kennywood’s newest and biggest attraction, reopened Wednesday, four days after it had been shut down for maintenance.
The roller coaster had been closed since Saturday as crews dealt with technical issues for the second time since the ride’s debut in July.
Kennywood said the work was done with its maintenance crews and “our partners at S& S Worldwide,” which designed and built the 4,000- foot- long coaster.
The Steel Curtain features nine inversions, which park officials say is the most in North America, and the world’s tallest inversion at 197 feet.
Kennywood said downtime is “normal” given the ride’s “newness, complexity and recordbreaking nature.”
“Being a unique prototype ride, it’s not unusual to have periodic downtime as we have seen over The Steel Curtain’s first month of operations,” Kennywood said in a Facebook post.
“Please know that our primary focus throughout this process is on the safety of the ride for you, our guests,” the post continued. “We aim to provide the best experience possible on a visit to Kennywood, and safety is the first priority in creating that good experience.”
While some people seemed to be upset about the closure in their social media comments, experienced roller coaster enthusiasts were hardly thrown for a loop by the shutdown.
“It is not unusual in the least bit. It’s actually highly common,” said Bill Linkenheimer of Ross, who is a regional representative and past national president of the American Coaster Enthusiasts. “The reality is, this is common at parks all over the world.”
One example he has been sharing lately is the new ride at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fla. — Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure — that has been closed a lot, or open for reduced hours, due to technical issues since it opened June 13.
“If a park like Universal’s can have a problem, pretty much any park can,” Mr. Linkenheimer said. And parks do, as they work out issues with computers and sensors that control today’s rides.
“The reality is, this is common at parks all over the world.” — Bill Linkenheimer, American Coaster Enthusiasts
His ACE colleague and historian David Hahner agreed, citing “growing pains” with rides including the Steel Vengeance, Top Thrill Dragster and Maverick at Cedar Point in Ohio and Lightning Rod at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
“There are just so many things that can go wrong and shut a ride down,” Mr. Linkenheimer said. “Ironically, most of these things are safety features.”
He doesn’t know what issues Kennywood and S& S were addressing on the Steel Curtain, but he empathizes because he knows that the ride is so unique that not even coaster enthusiasts have a name for its type yet. “It’s not mass- produced like your car. It’s oneofa- kind.”
Mr. Hahner said he thinks most people will be “forgiving” and will look forward to having the Steel Curtain running reliably. “The ride is amazingly fun and thrilling and a worthy addition to Kennywood!”