Dave Althoff, Jr.
2019-07-24 01:21:18 UTC
So Kennywood has achieved a couple of interesting statistical feats.
In the course of just a few days, they have gone from 0 operating roller
coasters with inversions to 2 operating roller coasters with inversions, as
Steel Curtain has opened and Sky Rocket has re-opened.
Kennywood also now is a major amusement park with 13 roller coaster
inversions...but with 0 roller coaster shoulder bars. Fun fact: I have been
advocating for this right here on rec.roller-coaster for more than 25
years. Oddly enough some of the lap bars now being used on looping coasters
actually employ some of the design features I suggested back
then...although I'll be the first to admit that those sorts of things would
be obvious to anyone 'skilled in the art', so this is not unexpected.
I left the house on Saturday morning before 5:00am and drove almost
straight through to <=Kennywood=<. The occasion was KennyKon XXX and an
opportunity for an early ride on Steel Curtain. I still got there after the
start of ERT. That drive from Columbus to Pittsburgh just never gets any
shorter. Higher speed limits (70 MPH) in Ohio have helped a little, but
Pennsylvania offsets that by dropping limits to 40 MPH for infuriatingly
long "work zones" with no evidence of any work being done.
Once inside, our first stop was Steel Curtain. Over the course of the day I
only ride it twice, so you're not going to get a play-by-play from me. For
a 200-foot-tall coaster, much of Steel Curtain is squeezed into a very
small space; I don't think it uses the whole footprint from the Log Jammer,
but of course it also extends out across the midway with a very interesting
collection of supports and even a shared 'over-under' track section
reminiscent of the big loop on Full Throttle. The entrance is through a
large "Steelers Country" archway and into a minimally landscaped queue. The
buildings alongside the queue and station, including the old Whip pavilion,
are still under heavy construction. The station itself is a lot like the
Sky Rocket station, a minimalist platform with a tensioned fabric roof. In
an unexpected (and somehow fitting) theming touch, the ride operators are
uniformed as referees. How long before they are issued whistles for
signaling?
The train is the modern minimalist style, basically a rolling platform with
seats and lap bars bolted to it. The seats are comfortable Fiberglas molds,
and while they do have that now-ubiquitous hump in the middle, the hump is
kept out at the front edge of the seat, not extending backward under the
rider. There are retractable safety belts not entirely unlike the ones that
Phantom's Revenge doesn't have anymore, fastening on the outboard side,
completely clear of the lap bar. The lap bar is reminiscent of the one on
Knoebels' Impulse, lowering easily into the lap and landing just below my
gut. I did see quite a few delayed dispatches due to difficulties in
getting the lap bars down far enough to make the ride happy, but I don't
think I saw a single rider who wasn't ultimately able to ride. The seat
backs are quite high, and are shaped and decorated to resemble footballs.
Overall, the seats are quite accommodating, although the high seat backs
make for an obstructed view in any seat that isn't the front row. And there
are a *lot* of seats that are not the front row. Steel Curtain runs two
6-car trains with four passengers per car. It seems that trains are getting
shorter and shorter these days, so a ride with a conventional chain lift
and 24-passenger trains almost seems unusual anymore.
Once everyone is loaded, an announcement plays, voiced by a couple of
broadcast announcers (I am not a football fan, I don't watch the NFL, I
have no idea who these guys are), and the train starts out of the station.
The chain and safety ratchet extend well into the station from the base of
the lift, so once the first car is out of the station, it isn't coming
back. The lift is incredibly steep, but not vertical...but with the high
seat backs it might as well be. There are no visible landmarks to give you
any idea how close you are to the top of the lift. All you can see is sky.
At the top there is a dip, a dive, and a rolleover that looks like it was
inspired by Drachen Fire. A Storm Chaser-style inverted drop sets up the
first section of the ride, which from the midway is reminiscent of Tempesto
(or "Tampasto" if you prefer) but from the train features some of the best
head-chopper effects since Gemini. Initially it feels like the ride is
going to settle into a Banshee-like rhythm (where the top of every hill is
an inversion) but Steel Curtain is careful not to fall into that trap,
leaving a few of the peaks for some very nice airtime moments. There are
places where there is a hint of a Millennium Force-style rattle or
vibration, but overall it's a tremendously smooth ride, with the kind of
expert transitions we have come to expect from Ride Centerline. The ride is
nicely paced, and in fact trades the relentless intensity of a ride like
Steel Vengeance...or even, for that matter, Phantom's Revenge...for a much
more classic 'feel'. Steel Curtain rides like an idealized Arrow coaster:
think about how Tennesee Tornado would feel if it had lap bars. For the
benefit of the entire park, the lift hill noise is mostly directed upward
into the train, and the rest of the ride is nearly silent aside from the
screaming passengers. The ride makes good use of the space, and with the
trip out across the pond it even has a chance to stretch out and show off
its high speed maneuvers. It finishes with a nice airtime hill that
terminates in the final brakes, which is particularly interesting towards
the back of the train, as the train slows dramatically while the riders are
still airborne. The train rolls back into the station (decorated with a
banner showing a bunch of Roman numerals; I presume those are the Steelers'
Super Bowl appearances) and stops, the ridiculous S&S pneumatic lap bar
release gizmo engages the train, and an announcement plays. Ten seconds
later, the lap bars release. Riders can retrieve their stuff from the
trackside storage boxes, and proceed down the stairs and across the midway
to the one Steelers Country building that is substantially complete: the
gift shop. It's worth noting that this shop is one of the few spaces in the
park that is, in fact, air conditioned.
Steel Curtain is an excellent ride. April was predisposed to dislike it
from the beginning simply because she doesn't prefer looping coasters, and
besides, she's a Cleveland Browns fan. We both agreed that we never
expected to actually like a coaster with nine inversions. And yet, the ride
turns out to be quite a lot of fun, far more entertaining that either of us
expected.
There are a couple of things that Kennywood needs to fix right away. First
is that at the end of the ride, the pneumatic gizmo connects to the train,
and then there is about a 20 second delay before the lap bars release. I'm
not sure if that's because they are contractually obligated to play the
entire message before releasing the riders (anybody else suffer through the
Led Zeppelin pre-show at Hard Rock Park?) but if it is the announcement
needs to start a lot sooner so that when the announcer says, "...push up on
your lap bars..." the riders can actually do so. The other fix has to do
with bringing the train into the station. As I noted earlier, the safety
ratchet and lift chain actually extend into the station. This means once
the first car is out of the station, it isn't possible for the train to
come back, and once the last car passes the front seat queue, the entire
train is completely clear of the station. So there is no reason to wait
until the departing train is nearly to the top of the lift hill before
bringing in the second train. Cutting those two time-wasters would
dramatically increase the ride's capacity, and in fact might even let them
run on something close to an interval, much like Phantom's Revenge does.
Right now this is the shiny new ride and will be immensely popular for that
reason alone. The quality of this ride means it is going to stay popular
for some time to come, and I hope that as the park gets to know the ride
better, their operations improve accordingly.
In other news, did you hear that Sky Rocket is open again?
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.
In the course of just a few days, they have gone from 0 operating roller
coasters with inversions to 2 operating roller coasters with inversions, as
Steel Curtain has opened and Sky Rocket has re-opened.
Kennywood also now is a major amusement park with 13 roller coaster
inversions...but with 0 roller coaster shoulder bars. Fun fact: I have been
advocating for this right here on rec.roller-coaster for more than 25
years. Oddly enough some of the lap bars now being used on looping coasters
actually employ some of the design features I suggested back
then...although I'll be the first to admit that those sorts of things would
be obvious to anyone 'skilled in the art', so this is not unexpected.
I left the house on Saturday morning before 5:00am and drove almost
straight through to <=Kennywood=<. The occasion was KennyKon XXX and an
opportunity for an early ride on Steel Curtain. I still got there after the
start of ERT. That drive from Columbus to Pittsburgh just never gets any
shorter. Higher speed limits (70 MPH) in Ohio have helped a little, but
Pennsylvania offsets that by dropping limits to 40 MPH for infuriatingly
long "work zones" with no evidence of any work being done.
Once inside, our first stop was Steel Curtain. Over the course of the day I
only ride it twice, so you're not going to get a play-by-play from me. For
a 200-foot-tall coaster, much of Steel Curtain is squeezed into a very
small space; I don't think it uses the whole footprint from the Log Jammer,
but of course it also extends out across the midway with a very interesting
collection of supports and even a shared 'over-under' track section
reminiscent of the big loop on Full Throttle. The entrance is through a
large "Steelers Country" archway and into a minimally landscaped queue. The
buildings alongside the queue and station, including the old Whip pavilion,
are still under heavy construction. The station itself is a lot like the
Sky Rocket station, a minimalist platform with a tensioned fabric roof. In
an unexpected (and somehow fitting) theming touch, the ride operators are
uniformed as referees. How long before they are issued whistles for
signaling?
The train is the modern minimalist style, basically a rolling platform with
seats and lap bars bolted to it. The seats are comfortable Fiberglas molds,
and while they do have that now-ubiquitous hump in the middle, the hump is
kept out at the front edge of the seat, not extending backward under the
rider. There are retractable safety belts not entirely unlike the ones that
Phantom's Revenge doesn't have anymore, fastening on the outboard side,
completely clear of the lap bar. The lap bar is reminiscent of the one on
Knoebels' Impulse, lowering easily into the lap and landing just below my
gut. I did see quite a few delayed dispatches due to difficulties in
getting the lap bars down far enough to make the ride happy, but I don't
think I saw a single rider who wasn't ultimately able to ride. The seat
backs are quite high, and are shaped and decorated to resemble footballs.
Overall, the seats are quite accommodating, although the high seat backs
make for an obstructed view in any seat that isn't the front row. And there
are a *lot* of seats that are not the front row. Steel Curtain runs two
6-car trains with four passengers per car. It seems that trains are getting
shorter and shorter these days, so a ride with a conventional chain lift
and 24-passenger trains almost seems unusual anymore.
Once everyone is loaded, an announcement plays, voiced by a couple of
broadcast announcers (I am not a football fan, I don't watch the NFL, I
have no idea who these guys are), and the train starts out of the station.
The chain and safety ratchet extend well into the station from the base of
the lift, so once the first car is out of the station, it isn't coming
back. The lift is incredibly steep, but not vertical...but with the high
seat backs it might as well be. There are no visible landmarks to give you
any idea how close you are to the top of the lift. All you can see is sky.
At the top there is a dip, a dive, and a rolleover that looks like it was
inspired by Drachen Fire. A Storm Chaser-style inverted drop sets up the
first section of the ride, which from the midway is reminiscent of Tempesto
(or "Tampasto" if you prefer) but from the train features some of the best
head-chopper effects since Gemini. Initially it feels like the ride is
going to settle into a Banshee-like rhythm (where the top of every hill is
an inversion) but Steel Curtain is careful not to fall into that trap,
leaving a few of the peaks for some very nice airtime moments. There are
places where there is a hint of a Millennium Force-style rattle or
vibration, but overall it's a tremendously smooth ride, with the kind of
expert transitions we have come to expect from Ride Centerline. The ride is
nicely paced, and in fact trades the relentless intensity of a ride like
Steel Vengeance...or even, for that matter, Phantom's Revenge...for a much
more classic 'feel'. Steel Curtain rides like an idealized Arrow coaster:
think about how Tennesee Tornado would feel if it had lap bars. For the
benefit of the entire park, the lift hill noise is mostly directed upward
into the train, and the rest of the ride is nearly silent aside from the
screaming passengers. The ride makes good use of the space, and with the
trip out across the pond it even has a chance to stretch out and show off
its high speed maneuvers. It finishes with a nice airtime hill that
terminates in the final brakes, which is particularly interesting towards
the back of the train, as the train slows dramatically while the riders are
still airborne. The train rolls back into the station (decorated with a
banner showing a bunch of Roman numerals; I presume those are the Steelers'
Super Bowl appearances) and stops, the ridiculous S&S pneumatic lap bar
release gizmo engages the train, and an announcement plays. Ten seconds
later, the lap bars release. Riders can retrieve their stuff from the
trackside storage boxes, and proceed down the stairs and across the midway
to the one Steelers Country building that is substantially complete: the
gift shop. It's worth noting that this shop is one of the few spaces in the
park that is, in fact, air conditioned.
Steel Curtain is an excellent ride. April was predisposed to dislike it
from the beginning simply because she doesn't prefer looping coasters, and
besides, she's a Cleveland Browns fan. We both agreed that we never
expected to actually like a coaster with nine inversions. And yet, the ride
turns out to be quite a lot of fun, far more entertaining that either of us
expected.
There are a couple of things that Kennywood needs to fix right away. First
is that at the end of the ride, the pneumatic gizmo connects to the train,
and then there is about a 20 second delay before the lap bars release. I'm
not sure if that's because they are contractually obligated to play the
entire message before releasing the riders (anybody else suffer through the
Led Zeppelin pre-show at Hard Rock Park?) but if it is the announcement
needs to start a lot sooner so that when the announcer says, "...push up on
your lap bars..." the riders can actually do so. The other fix has to do
with bringing the train into the station. As I noted earlier, the safety
ratchet and lift chain actually extend into the station. This means once
the first car is out of the station, it isn't possible for the train to
come back, and once the last car passes the front seat queue, the entire
train is completely clear of the station. So there is no reason to wait
until the departing train is nearly to the top of the lift hill before
bringing in the second train. Cutting those two time-wasters would
dramatically increase the ride's capacity, and in fact might even let them
run on something close to an interval, much like Phantom's Revenge does.
Right now this is the shiny new ride and will be immensely popular for that
reason alone. The quality of this ride means it is going to stay popular
for some time to come, and I hope that as the park gets to know the ride
better, their operations improve accordingly.
In other news, did you hear that Sky Rocket is open again?
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
/X\ _ *** Respect rides. They do not respect you. ***
/XXX\ /X\ /X\_ _ /X\__ _ _ _____
/XXXXX\ /XXX\ /XXXX\_ /X\ /XXXXX\ /X\ /X\ /XXXXX
_/XXXXXXX\__/XXXXX\/XXXXXXXX\_/XXX\_/XXXXXXX\__/XXX\_/XXX\_/\_/XXXXXX
NEW! When emailing this account, include the 'canonical magic word' in
the body of your message for a quicker response.