Universal Studio Hollywood’s highly anticipated new roller coaster Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift officially opens tomorrow, 16th September, and I was lucky enough to ride it last week amidst a summer of technical rehearsals.
It’s the first outdoor thrill-coaster the Los Angeles park has ever seen, with the park’s rides typically leaning into the more family-friendly variety. That’s not to say that something like the Transformers ride or even Harry Potter aren’t without their thrills. But a coaster that flips riders upside down over this Hollywood hill and its surrounds, is another experience entirely.
As we reported earlier in the year, the ride reaches speeds of 72 mph (116 km/h), making it the fastest attraction at any Universal park. Though you wouldn’t know that looking at it. The way the cars of the ride drift over the elevators that take you down to the lower lot of the park makes the ride seem almost tame. But rest assured it’s faster than it looks.
And looks can be deceiving anyway. The way the cars rotate 360 degrees add to the thrill and speed of it, giving riders the “drifting” sensation (and effectively, I might add). They even send cars backwards at one part of the ride, ensuring you have no idea what’s coming. There are 3 inversions across the 4,100 feet (1250 metres) of the track, and at another point, you’ll hang completely upside down, with your view of the neighbouring golf course and hills replacing that of the track and the cars around it.
It’s a spectacular moment.
The lap bar, which is not unlike the one on the phenomenal VelociCoaster in Orlando, doesn’t add any protection over your chest, ensuring you really feel the gravity here. For some, this might make the ride a bit too thrilling. But for me, it only made it better.
The Pre-Ride Experience
The entry of the ride sits in the footprint of an area once occupied by the Animal Actors on Location & Special Effects stage shows. You step in to the left of a large brick building, where you will have the option of general boarding, Express Entry (which is available at an additional cost at the park), or the single rider queue. When they opened for technical rehearsals last week, general and Express were open, but the single rider queue was not.
With an Express ticket in hand, I was able to skip the part of the queue that precedes the locker entry. Which could save you hours in peak season, given how much space they have allocated for expected demand. At this point, a free locker is provided to store everything you have on you. And I mean everything. Take nothing but your ticket for the locker. Like at VelociCoaster in Orlando, or The Flying Dinosaur in Osaka, you’ll need to go through metal detectors to get on the ride. I was able to leave my glasses on for it (which I wasn’t in Osaka), but everything else went into the locker.
It look about 25 minutes from the locker, to getting onto the ride. You can tell the one thing they’re trying to work on is expediting this process, as the wait between the lockers and the metal detectors means the line builds up within the locker area – which gets pretty crowded. For now, a lot of the duty is on the person keeping people from entering the locker area at all. I’ll be interested as to how they make that work better as things officially get up and running.
But once you’re through the metal detectors, things move relatively quickly through a themed area and then up the stairs into the ride’s loading zone. The procedure here was smooth, with a large space and two tracks giving them the chance to load in 32 people at a time. There are four cars connected for each ride, with four riders sitting in each car.
On Board Hollywood Drift
The ride sees you drift over the iconic Hollywood park, in a car designed to emulate that of the rides in the movie. I am not a car guy, so I couldn’t even tell you what I rode in – but there were plenty in the queue who were hoping to sit in the design of one car over another, so for those who care about such things, you can read more about which cars they have on offer HERE.
There are sound effects of the car speeding up, and drifting, timed to the appropriate moments, with music kicking in right at the end. But when riding it for the first time, there are so many surprises and literal twists and turns that it’s hard to focus on just about anything other than the sensations it elicits. I screamed with adrenaline, felt moments of awe, and at its end I laughed with glee. What more can you ask for?
I was also impressed by how little noise the coaster makes. There has been a lot of chit-chat online about locals complaining about the noise, but I have to imagine that’s the screams of guests, rather than the mechanics. Because it was almost silent, even when passing it closely on the escalators. Clearly they have taken noise pollution well into account for the ride, as the ride’s volume – or lack thereof – is rather impressive.
Fast & Furious at Universal Parks
The introduction of the ride – which will also be opening at their Orlando resort next year – comes following the 25th anniversary of the franchise. And it’s not the first attraction that the Fast & Furious family have welcomed to Universal Parks. The Studio Tour had long featured experiences tied to the film, which they emulated in one of Orlando’s weakest attractions. But all of these have now closed to give the franchise a focus on the new coasters. And that’s a very good thing.
However, closer to the entry of the park, there are additional celebrations for the F&F 25th anniversary. Fans should be sure to check out the bar and restaurant Drift & Dine themed to F&F, offering things like Tuna, No Crust and the LA Drift Dog.
Final Verdict
It’s long been overdue for Universal Studios Hollywood to offer something new to thrill seekers. Jurassic World’s water drop, and the indoor Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster remain excellent and thrilling attractions, but they were both built in the 90s.
With Hollywood Drift, thrill-seekers finally have a reason to return to the much-loved park. It’s technically impressive, thrilling from start to finish and for this roller coaster fan, makes you want to ride it again as soon as you jump off it. Which is a clear sign of a fantastic ride.
While Hollywood still doesn’t compete with other Universal Parks and Resorts when it comes to thrill rides, this does step their game up considerably. The other parks just don’t suffer the limitations of space that Hollywood has to work around. But they’ve worked around it brilliantly, with the track zig-zagging up and down the hill that separates the Upper and Lower Lots of the park.
I loved this ride, and you will too.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift opens 16th September. For tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood, and for more details on the attraction, head to their official website.
The author visited Universal Studios Hollywood as a guest of the park. Photos by the author unless otherwise credited.
