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Exterminator

Kennywood · Operating · 1999

Exterminator

43 ft · 29 mph

Photo: See Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Family rideKennywoodOfficial park siteLost KennywoodReverchon43 ft · 29 mph

Exterminator opened on April 18, 1999 as Kennywood's first indoor coaster and the first indoor spinning wild-mouse installation in the United States, built by the French manufacturer Reverchon inside a structure bordering the park's original property line. Riders board single-file cars themed as escaping rats fleeing Kennywood exterminators, threading tight wild-mouse switchbacks past Sally Corporation animatronics and R&R Creative Amusement Design show scenes across nearly 1,400 feet of enclosed track. The cars run forward-facing through the first half of the layout before spinning freely through the darkened finale, adding an unpredictable rotational element on top of the format's already sharp lateral forces. More than 25 years after its debut, Exterminator remains one of only a handful of Reverchon spinning coasters still operating in the United States.

Specifications

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Ride profile

Scaled against Kennywood's operating coasters

Steel

Height

43 ft

#6 of 7 at Kennywood

Height43 ft
Speed29 mph
Length1,378 ft
InversionsNone

Ride experience

  • Dark ride
  • Spinning
  • Reverchon
  • Steel
  • Wild mouse

Specs from kennywood.com

History

Sourced timeline and background for Exterminator.

Timeline

  1. 1998

    Announced as Kennywood's sixth coaster

    Kennywood reveals plans for the park's first indoor coaster.

    Source

  2. 1999

    Exterminator opens

    First indoor spinning wild-mouse coaster to open in the United States.

    Source

Background

Kennywood's original property line had left the park landlocked for decades, so when it announced Exterminator in September 1998 as its sixth roller coaster, the site chosen sat just outside those original boundaries, bordering a residential neighborhood — a location that made an enclosed, indoor coaster a practical necessity as much as a creative choice.

French manufacturer Reverchon Industries supplied its then-novel Spinning Coaster model, the first of its kind to be installed indoors anywhere in the United States, while California-based R&R Creative Amusement Designs built the ride's storyline: guests play rats trying to escape a building overrun by Kennywood's own exterminators. Sally Corporation designed four animatronic exterminator figures that appear throughout the darkened 1,378-foot layout, which begins with forward-facing wild-mouse switchbacks before the cars spin freely through the finale.

Kennywood held a media preview for enthusiast groups on April 16, 1999, two days ahead of Exterminator's public debut on April 18. It became the first attraction built entirely outside the park's historic footprint, and Reverchon's model would later be replicated worldwide, though the manufacturer itself has since gone out of business.

More than 25 years later, Exterminator remains one of only a handful of Reverchon spinning coasters still operating in the United States and one of Lost Kennywood's most distinctly themed attractions.

Notable records

  • first of kind · Country

    First indoor spinning wild-mouse coaster to open in the United States.

    As of 1999

History primarily sourced from kennywood.com. See also our data policy.

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