Residents who live near Universal Studios Hollywood will soon get a break from the noise generated by the park’s new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster.
Adrin Nazarian, a councilmember serving the Second Council District of Los Angeles (which includes North Hollywood, Studio City and Toluca Lake, among other neighborhoods), announced on social media Tuesday that Universal Studios will install two additional sound barriers “to help reduce noise” stemming from their new “Fast and Furious”-themed roller coaster in the surrounding area.
“We heard you,” the post reads. “The construction is expected to be completed by early next month.”
A Universal spokesperson said in a statement, “Testing completed to date confirms the attraction is operating in compliance with sound ordinance requirements. Community feedback has been an important part of our testing process and in response to that feedback, we are implementing additional sound-reduction measures to further lessen sound levels in the adjacent neighborhood. We appreciate the community’s input and will continue to engage with our neighbors as the coaster remains in technical rehearsals ahead of its opening.”
Local residents reported that they repeatedly heard screams coming from riders which would cause distraction if it became a permanent fixture. “Like every 30-40 seconds, you just keep hearing screams,” neighbor Craig Strong told CBS LA last month. “It’s like this is going to be our new sound in the neighborhood all day long.”
Throughout the attraction, there are elements designed to reduce sound, including a low-rumble track filled with pea gravel to minimize vehicle noise and half-pipe shields that encase sound at the source. The shields are modeled after the park’s escalator, which is a nice touch. The ride vehicles can also rotate 360 degrees, allowing them to direct sound away from the surrounding community. The new sound wall will stretch longer than two football fields and be made of a state-of-the-art sound-absorbing product.
Throughout the design and construction of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, which snakes underneath the park’s lengthy escalator (the “star-case,” in Universal-speak) and hugs the side of the mountain, Universal has been very open with the community, sending flyers to residents and encouraging feedback. When the attraction was testing without guests, there wasn’t much in the way of the usual roller coaster-related noise. But once guests started riding during an extended, ongoing “soft opening” phase, that’s when residents of nearby Toluca Lake started screaming bloody murder themselves.
The Los Angeles Times’ Todd Martens, whose theme park newsletter Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride is an indispensable resource for lovers of themed entertainment, chronicled the hubbub recently. He quoted Leonard Garner Jr., a retired television actor and director (and resident of Toluca Lake) who was amazed at how quiet the ride was initially but became disturbed once he listened to the full ride vehicles. “I heard it, and I thought to myself, There are going to be problems with this,” Garner told Martens.
While the west coast version of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift has yet to officially open, the east coast version of the attraction, set to open at Universal Studios Florida, recently finished construction of its track. It is set to open in 2027.
Buttressed by an affluent neighborhood and built alongside a working movie and television studio, Universal Studios Hollywood has always occupied an odd and unique place in the community. Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will be the theme park’s first outdoor coaster; it’s only other rollercoaster is Revenge of the Mummy, which was wholly constructed indoors.
It’s unclear if the angry response to the coaster will impact Universal Hollywood’s future expansion plans, including a rumored west coast version of Mine-Cart Madness.
