Our co-founder Frank Fruscello was tasked with producing all of the scenic elements, special effects, show lighting, audio, and video for Kennywood Park’s indoor Reverchon spinning wild mouse ride, The Exterminator.  When Kennywood's owners decided that many of the designs submitted by the original contractor were not feasible or within budget, Frank was called in to come up with all of the new scenic, special effects, lighting, audio and much of the new video.  

Some of the outstanding elements designed and produced completely by Frank with no assistance at all were:

• wild electrical bursts that surround a large Alstom circuit breaker including rats chewing through the wires of electrical cabinets. 

• A tunnel which looks as though it is covered with running green slime and a large set of eyes peering through a hole in the wall that has apparently been chewed through by enormous, sharp teeth.



• An "infinite track" visual effect which makes the track appear as if it goes on forever but is destroyed midway through.  This is an effective mirror trick that appears right before the riders make a sharp left on the real track and are spun into darkness. 
• Created and installed the giant rat figures throughout the ride.
• Ancient looking sewer pipes throughout the ride all constructed from faux painted modern PVC pipe with aluminum cake pans and cast resin bolts making up the connection flanges.

Frank set out to insure that everything in the ride was highly themed. New grey metal doors were faux painted to look old and rusted, roots from plants above ground poke through cracks in the ceiling and large rusted valve wheels are covered with old cobwebs. 

"For the 1999 season, the park unleashed the most intense dark ride they've ever created, a real head-turner called The Exterminator...Fully enclosed rollercoasters are no longer the rarest of novelties. Disney's several Space Mountains (at their parks in California, Florida, Tokyo and Paris) and the two Outer Limits: Flight Of Fear linear induction motor coasters at Paramount's Kings Island (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Paramount's Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia), are the most extreme examples of what can be accomplished by hiding a coaster's twists and turns from the harsh light of day. One could even argue that they themselves qualify as dark rides, too. But The Exterminator trumps them all as a bona fide dark ride by incorporating a meaty story, a "pre-show" that sets up the action, several way-cool scenic elements and a ride vehicle that has some diabolical moves."

"Don't take my word that The Exterminator is a winner; stand by the exit and watch as group after staggering group gallops back around the Vermin, Inc. truck, eyes wide with delight. These are verbatim quotes, folks: 'Oh, man, that was awesome!' - 'We gotta do that again!' - 'When we started spinning, I thought I was going to lose it!' - 'This is the best ride in the park!'... The Exterminator's impact is undeniable. I neither saw nor heard a single dissatisfied customer."