I consider myself lucky to have ridden Steel Curtain multiple times in 2019. In 2019, I got a total of 6 rides on Steel Curtain. You should know that I only rode in the middle row since I was scared of coasters at that point. Today, I wanted to talk about the ride experience.
First, I do want to give a bit of background. Pretty much every week in August and September (when it was open), my dad would take me to Kennywood in 2019. We would go to Kennywood, get Dinner from Midway (a basic food stand by Jackrabbit), and would ride a couple coasters. We would usually go for Steel Curtain and either Skyrocket or Phantom's Revenge. This was usually around 6 PM, and since the line was 2 hours long, we would only ever ride at night. We did that 4 times. I also did ride Steel Curtain once around July 15th, 2019. I also got 1 ride at Phantom Fright Nights just before Midnight.
I am telling you that because it always meant that I would ride at night. I only have Steel Curtain Night Rides. This also meant that it was running all day on my visits, so I rode it when it was running fast.
Now, let's start with the entrance. First, you enter Steelers Country. If you keep going straight, you get to Steel Curtain's entrance. If you visit after 2019, it will have a test seat, but it was just added in 2020, and no one got to ride in 2020. When you get there, you see an entrance with the Steel Curtain logo. There are also mists made to the right of the entrance, which is nice on a hot summer day.
When you enter, you will have to wait a while. They usually overestimate the wait. In the past, they have overestimated by about 30 minutes, but it changes day to day. In 2019, I had to wait 2 hours for most of my Steel Curtain rides.
Eventually, you will get to the station. You can pick your row now, though they assigned seats for the first weekend of operations.
Most people seem to say that it is best in the front row, but I don't know if that is true. Some people say it is smoothest in the front, but I thought it was as smooth as Phantom's Revenge and Skyrocket in the middle, so I have no idea what people are talking about.
Eventually, the air gates will open. There are cubbies in the station for your loose articles, so you should use them. Remember to buckle your seatbelt BEFORE pulling down your lap bar. People just don't do this a lot of the time, leading to the worst dispatches I've ever seen. Even if I used footage I've seen, it is the slowest. It was slower than dispatches on a VR coaster at a Six Flags park! Be prepared!
After your slow dispatch, you will go onto a lift hill. When you start off, it is very slow. This adds to the ride experience, though, since you see that super steep, pretty tall lift. The lift is actually steeper than Phantom's second drop.
Eventually, after going super slowly up parts of the lift hill, you suddenly speed up. This can be pretty scary.
After about 50 seconds, you will get to the top of the lift. You then go into a predrop. This feels a lot faster than it probably is.
You then go into the corkscrew. This leads directly into the drop. This is known as a fakeout drop or a Drachen Fire Dive Drop. This is also the world's tallest inversion. It provides some hangtime at 197 feet in the air.
You dive into a tall drop. It is unclear how tall it is. I have heard that the drop is 197 feet, 200 feet, and 205 feet, so I have no idea how tall the drop is. The drop goes through many supports which act as good head choppers.
Eventually, you go through the Banana Roll and the Sea Serpent Roll. These feel very similar. Between the Sea Serpent Roll and the Banana Roll, there are also some airtime moments.
After the Sea Serpent Roll, you go through a long camelback. This is the start of the best part. You go through the camelback then dive into a dive loop before going into a Zero G Stall. These are all taken in rapid succession, and you are out of your seat this whole time.
You then go into a quick airtime moment. It doesn't have much airtime, but it has some. It then goes into a corkscrew. This provides some hangtime.
After that, you go into a turn that leads to a cutback. Those are both quite forceful. That leads into the brakes.
You go into the safety brakes pretty fast. You then go down, turn right, then go to the final brakes, where you often have to wait a minute.
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