The only NFL-themed roller coaster is out for the 2024 season. The Steel Curtain, the Pittsburgh Steelers-themed roller coaster at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, will not run in the 2024 season, the park announced on Wednesday.
The coaster, which opened in 2019, has dealt with consistent maintenance issues, causing it to be closed for stretches of nearly every season. This year-long closure will bring extensive modifications which promise to increase its reliability.
“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,” assistant general manager Ricky Spicuzza said.
The coaster’s black and gold towers lift riders to 220 feet, before dropping them through nine inversions at a maximum of 75 miles per hour on a two-minute ride. It features the world’s tallest inversion, a dive drop at 197 feet off the ground, and has more inversions than any other coaster in America.
It’s also the only one with an NFL theme. The coaster was supposed to anchor an entire Steelers-themed corner of the park called Steelers Country, though it remains the only ride in the northeast section of Kennywood that formerly held the Whip and Log Jammer.
Manufactured by S&S Sansei Technologies, Steel Curtain opened with fanfare in 2019, with members of the team and past Steelers riding on the opening day. In addition to the name and color scheme, the ride features cars with football-shaped seats, jersey-style trim, and audio with Steelers broadcasters and the team’s unofficial theme song, Renegade.
The ride has been beset by issues from the start. Its opening was delayed several months to July 13, 2019, but it suffered closures as soon as Aug. 3. It did not open at all during the 2020 season and was closed for at least a month of the 2022 season, along with parts of 2023.
S&S, Kennywood and a third-party outside contractor are working together to revamp the coaster to make it more reliably available to park-goers. It’s unclear how the ride experience may be changed by the modifications.
According to members CoasterBuzz.com, Steel Curtain is ranked as the 45th-best roller coaster in the country, two spots behind Kennywood’s older steel coaster, Phantom’s Revenge.
The rest of the park is slate to open for the 2024 season on April 20. New highlights for the season include new cars on the bumper cars and the re-opening of the Turtle and Aero 360, which were closed for maintenance toward the end of the 2023 season.
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