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Kennywood | Steel Curtain | S&S Multi-looper

Meanwhile, Cleveland is preparing a Browns Country amusement attraction:

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I honestly did not expect so much venom getting thrown at this announcement. As a Lions fan, my kneejerk reaction was to scoff at the notion that a ride was going to be themed to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it's truly a phenomenal marketing move on the park's part. Steelers fans will eat this **** up - Kennywood is playing to its strengths. Also, let's not forget some other rides that utilize a sports tie-in, like both NASCAR/Dale Earnhardt themed Intimidators, or the hornet themed Fury which tied into Charlotte, NC's basketball team rebranding from the Bobcats to the Hornets for the 2014-15 season (granted the various teams and foundations did not have nearly as much involvement in those themes/rides as the Steelers organization has in this attraction...but you get the point). Also I think it's a pretty sweet name on its own.

Yes, going with S&S is a risk - we know about the track issues with Gale Force and also one of the Thrust Air launchers over in China. Hopefully Steel Curtain remains free of these problems because the ride does look pretty good. Is it earth shattering? No. Is it going to be in everybody's top 10s? Probably not. But the ride has a unique set of elements and a flowing layout where they appear to alternate between inversions and airtime (btw **** y'all if you clearly can't see all the little speed bumps, double ups, and moments of airtime on this ride). I mean, how many sea serpent maneuvers are there in existence (answer: 5)? Now we get another one.

Also, y'all are ridiculous regarding the supports. One of the cardinal rules to engineering is that form follows function. Make it work first, then make it pretty.
 
Antinos said:
I honestly did not expect so much venom getting thrown at this announcement. As a Lions fan, my kneejerk reaction was to scoff at the notion that a ride was going to be themed to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it's truly a phenomenal marketing move on the park's part. Steelers fans will eat this :emoji_poop: up - Kennywood is playing to its strengths. Also, let's not forget some other rides that utilize a sports tie-in, like both NASCAR/Dale Earnhardt themed Intimidators, or the hornet themed Fury which tied into Charlotte, NC's basketball team rebranding from the Bobcats to the Hornets for the 2014-15 season (granted the various teams and foundations did not have nearly as much involvement in those themes/rides as the Steelers organization has in this attraction...but you get the point). Also I think it's a pretty sweet name on its own.

Yes, going with S&S is a risk - we know about the track issues with Gale Force and also one of the Thrust Air launchers over in China. Hopefully Steel Curtain remains free of these problems because the ride does look pretty good. Is it earth shattering? No. Is it going to be in everybody's top 10s? Probably not. But the ride has a unique set of elements and a flowing layout where they appear to alternate between inversions and airtime (btw :emoji_zipper_mouth: y'all if you clearly can't see all the little speed bumps, double ups, and moments of airtime on this ride). I mean, how many sea serpent maneuvers are there in existence (answer: 5)? Now we get another one.

Also, y'all are ridiculous regarding the supports. One of the cardinal rules to engineering is that form follows function. Make it work first, then make it pretty.
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Didn’t know they had issues with another one in China and a few Google searches didn’t bring anything up. Anymore info on this?

The only issues S&S has had that I would consider serious are Gale Force, Twist Coaster Robin, and Green Lantern spitting a wheel out. Now I never rode any of these but the seven I have ridden I liked all of them to an extent. I’m not going to say this is going to go off without a hitch, but it definitely wasn’t doomed from the day it was designed like some coasters have been.

Edit: Totally forgot Ring Racer, that was definitely a hot mess too.
 
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Jarrett said:
Didn’t know they had issues with another one in China and a few Google searches didn’t bring anything up. Anymore info on this?

The only issues S&S has had that I would consider serious are Gale Force, Twist Coaster Robin, and Green Lantern spitting a wheel out. Now I never rode any of these but the seven I have ridden I liked all of them to an extent. I’m not going to say this is going to go off without a hitch, but it definitely wasn’t doomed from the day it was designed like some coasters have been.
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That's the thing though, the alterations they had to do on much smaller attractions makes many people weary due to this being the largest attraction they've built in a decade (give or take a few years). That's like going from TTD to double the height two years later without a proven record. Yeah.. hugely twisted comparison but the track record for S&S isn't strong right now. Tough to throw all concerns to the wind.
 
Jarrett said:
Didn’t know they had issues with another one in China and a few Google searches didn’t bring anything up. Anymore info on this?

The only issues S&S has had that I would consider serious are Gale Force, Twist Coaster Robin, and Green Lantern spitting a wheel out. Now I never rode any of these but the seven I have ridden I liked all of them to an extent. I’m not going to say this is going to go off without a hitch, but it definitely wasn’t doomed from the day it was designed like some coasters have been.
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Thrust Air was the wrong label...I'm almost positive it was Bullet Coaster at Happy Valley needed some extensive welding work done to the track. Photo #7 actually shows some of the weldments:

https://rcdb.com/9442.htm

I suspect @roomraider knows more regarding the specifics.
 
thecraneguy said:
the wingrider is 196 feet tall and so is the drop
the corkscrew is 197 feet tall
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196.85ft, apparantly meaning this thing will be a whopping 4 cm taller.
I truly wonder which one will actually be highest due to construction error margins...
I'd definitely say tied...
 
I think this is looking a lot grosser in concept. The colors and look don’t look great in graphics but seeing this thing 200 feet tall will be quite a sight. Also, props to Kennywood for a pretty brilliant cross endorsement. Makes me wonder why there aren’t more sports themed coasters? I feel like people at regional parks would eat that up especially given how intense sport fandom can be in this country.
 
I'm optimistic that S&S will have learnt lessons from past projects here. They have successfully produced many amusement rides over the years without a hitch, and they've only had a few major problems over the years. The only major slip ups from S&S I can think of are:
  • GaleForce
  • RingRacer
  • Twist Coaster Robin (although that wasn't directly manufactured by S&S; I think Sansei Yusoki, S&S's parent company, built Twist Coaster Robin)
  • Merlin's Mayhem (although I'm unsure as to whether the problems that prevented it from opening in 2017 were caused by S&S themselves or by an external factor)
A lot of S&S's rides have opened successfully over the years as far as I'm aware. For example, I don't think any of their Space Shot rides have had major problems, and most of their El Locos (note the word most) haven't had any major hitches in their lifetimes. So I'm optimistic that Steel Curtain will be an S&S success.
 
Matt N said:
A lot of S&S's rides have opened successfully over the years as far as I'm aware. For example, I don't think any of their Space Shot rides have had major problems, and most of their El Locos (note the word most) haven't had any major hitches in their lifetimes. So I'm optimistic that Steel Curtain will be an S&S success.
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The only thing I'd note is that they're generally small coasters with fairly similar designs. This coaster is much more experimental for S&S, much like those 'troubled' coasters you list.
 
Hixee said:
The only thing I'd note is that they're generally small coasters with fairly similar designs. This coaster is much more experimental for S&S, much like those 'troubled' coasters you list.
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Ah, makes sense. Thanks @Hixee! But I'm still confident that S&S have learnt from past mistakes, personally!
 
Hixee said:
I appreciate your optimism and, all joking aside, I hope you're right!
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Thank you! If Alan Schilke's company is involved, then it's bound to be good to a degree! Might this also explain why Alan was sighted at Kennywood a few years back?
 
Matt N said:
I'm optimistic that S&S will have learnt lessons from past projects here. They have successfully produced many amusement rides over the years without a hitch, and they've only had a few major problems over the years. The only major slip ups from S&S I can think of are:
  • GaleForce
  • RingRacer
  • Twist Coaster Robin (although that wasn't directly manufactured by S&S; I think Sansei Yusoki, S&S's parent company, built Twist Coaster Robin)
  • Merlin's Mayhem (although I'm unsure as to whether the problems that prevented it from opening in 2017 were caused by S&S themselves or by an external factor)
A lot of S&S's rides have opened successfully over the years as far as I'm aware. For example, I don't think any of their Space Shot rides have had major problems, and most of their El Locos (note the word most) haven't had any major hitches in their lifetimes. So I'm optimistic that Steel Curtain will be an S&S success.
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I wouldn’t lump Merlin in with the rest because if I’m remembering right, it just took a while to get built for some reason, it’s not like it was sitting around SBNO forever because of some horrific mechanical problem like the others on the list. Not an insider but that sounds more like a planning problem than an engineering problem.

Same with Bullet Coaster to an extent. Yes that’s a major slip up, however they aren’t the only manufacturer to have that problem. I know that both old Hulk and Mystery Mine needed welds redone regularly for various reasons. Not sure how severe the issues were though but it would make sense that welding could have been a factor in it allegedly getting rough. Jeff Pike said at CoasterStock last year that the reason Steel Force has that long flat turn around the Helix is actually to account for the metallurgical effects of welding in track fabrication. They kind of let it do its thing and then closed the gap with that instead of factoring it into the initial design, if we want to go back the the importance of sound manufacturing practices. If they had to redo the whole ride that’s one thing but just a few problem spots might be more common than one would think.

So that leaves Twist Coaster Robin, Gale Force, and Ring Racer as their only three serious slip ups that couldn’t be fixed reasonably and only one was structural. Robin was allegedly not entirely theirs (Got curious typing this and found a good article on it: https://www.google.com/amp/s/lesko5...bin-a-tale-of-epic-failure/amp/?source=images), Ring Racer was pretty extreme, Gale Force was a track style they’d never worked with before and considering it was a track problem I bet that’s what caused it.

So looking at S&S’s track record through my eyes, there ya go. Steel Curtain isn’t exactly a mechanically complex ride like Ring Racer, it’s using a track style they’ve used before according to renderings, but it’s still a new ride system that appears to have new trains. If they’ve learned from their track mistakes and the trains are built using as much existing hardware as they can appropriate and don’t overcomplicate the ride system, it should be successful. However, I wouldn’t say it’s an indestructible B&M that you should have no problem with on opening day. I could certainly see moderate issues arising here and there, but the project doesn’t seem to be deviant or complicated enough to be the next Son of Beast or Vertigo. Maybe the next Lightning Rod at worst, but I’d be really shocked if this has to be torn down or completely rebuilt.

Of course this is all early speculation grasping at straws. I’d much rather pop some popcorn, crack open a cold one, and watch them build a coaster instead of spending too much time predicting the reliability of a ride that doesn’t even have completed footers yet. Maybe the uncertain success is part of it but I’m excited to see this giant heavy machinery product placement go up!
 
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