One of the most anticipated roller coasters of 2026 is Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, and excitement has only continued to build as we’ve been able to witness its progress firsthand. It’s the first time Universal Studios Hollywood has gotten an outdoor coaster, and due to its location in the park, guests and neighbors have been watching it go up alongside the hill since they started building it. But while the ride itself has seemed ready to go for some time now, testing with ride cars full of people caused an uproar among the Toluca Lake neighbors on the streets below.
When ride testing began, it was done with empty vehicles, so things seemed relatively quiet. Since then, as employees started riding, a promotional commercial was shot, and technical rehearsals kicked off, the neighbor complaints grew and words like “disturbing” and “untenable” got thrown around. In an article in the L.A. Times, resident Patrick Nazari even said:
You think something is happening. Like someone is getting murdered out there.
That certainly sounds like a problem, but it's one that Universal is actively working to do something about.
It’s been hard to discern whether the neighbors surrounding the theme park are being overly dramatic or whether the sound really is a problem for folks in the surrounding area. The complaints were first reported on social media, then made their way to local news networks and wider media outlets, as concerns grew. In that same L.A. Times article, one man joked that he “may forever have to blast loud music all day to mask rider screams.”
As someone who lives relatively close to this particular theme park, I have heard the coaster running while inside the park and from the neighborhood. When you’re standing next to it, you can definitely hear the ride running, and there is always at least one person screaming, if not more. But the sound walls, scream shields and pea gravel were meant to dampen that, as was the fact that the drifting vehicles would mean that the screams would not be pointed in the same direction at the same time. Below the theme park, on the streets in the surrounding area, I was surprised by how distant the screams actually sounded. I can also understand why you wouldn’t want to hear that all day long, day after day.
So, what is Universal Studios Hollywood doing about all of this? According to an Instagram post from L.A. City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, the theme park will install two additional sound barriers to mitigate the screams, and construction should be completed in early September.
Hollywood Drift still has a summer 2026 opening listed, so things should quickly move forward once the finishing touches are in place. The testing phase is expected to continue in the meantime, so while it’s not guaranteed to be operational on any given day, you could get lucky enough to take a spin on the new coaster.
Fans have been very excited about Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift since the coaster was first rumored, especially as they saw it go up over the Starway, the massive escalator between the upper and lower lots. Plus, 2026 is the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Fast & Furious franchise, and it will also eventually have one final ride when its last installment, Fast Forever, drifts onto the big screen.
So, while the screams may be an issue, it's being solved, and overall hype is very high for this new ride.
