For the second straight opening day, Kennywood will be without its tallest and newest roller coaster, but the park says the ride’s modifications are “nearly complete.”
Steel Curtain stands 220 feet tall and sports nine inversions, the most of any coaster in the U.S. However, the ride has been down for extended periods since its 2019 opening and hasn’t operated at all since July 2023.
New columns for Steel Curtain arrived during the offseason (Kennywood)
Kennywood announced last April that Steel Curtain would be closed for the entire 2024 season to find a permanent solution to these issues. In October, the park said that the rehab project would involve adding new columns to the ride’s structure.
While this led to speculation that the Pittsburgh Steelers-themed coaster would be returning at the start of the 2025 season, Kennywood said in a video posted Wednesday that the modifications weren’t done just yet.
In the video, Kennywood general manager Ricky Spicuzza said the ride’s columns are still being installed. “Once this phase of the project is complete,” he continued, “our maintenance team is going to add the two trains back to the track, and test runs will begin, and you might even see work and testing of the coaster during your first visits this spring.”
Spicuzza finished by saying, “We can’t wait to announce an opening date soon.”
Without Steel Curtain, the West Mifflin, Pennsylvania park has seven operating coasters, ranging from the 105-year-old Jack Rabbit to 2010’s Sky Rocket, a 95-foot-tall Premier Rides launch coaster with three inversions.