Universal Studios Hollywood has locked in Wednesday, Sept. 16 as the official opening date for its Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster.
Three years after the ride was first officially confirmed, its summer 2026 opening appeared to be in doubt. After months of off-and-on testing for the coaster — and one retracted opening date — its first passholder previews were met with a slew of local TV news stories amplifying local residents’ complaints about the coaster making too much noise. Even though, in reality, the noise appeared to be barely audible, Universal did commit to building two additional sound barriers.
And technically, the new opening date fulfills the promise of a summer opening, as the autumn equinox marking the end of astronomical summer happens on Sept. 22.
Here’s how Universal described Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift in its press release:
“A unique dual-launching, split-ride track will alternate trains from dispatch to propel guests on an epic adventure that will take them over and under portions of the multilevel Starway escalator, through four spectacular launches, an exciting inverted dive loop, twisted pretzel loop and inverted stall, among others, at speeds of up to 72 MPH and a force of up to 3.6 Gs along 4,100 feet of elaborate aerial track constructed with sound-reduction technology while drifting at 360-degrees in their individual ride vehicles.
“Thrill seekers will begin their journey lap-bar harnessed into one of four iconic Fast Saga ride vehicles—the Dodge Charger, Mazda RX-7, Nissan Skyline GT-R and the Toyota Supra—each modeled after the cars driven by favorite Fast characters in the film series.”
Coaster manufacturer Intamin is currently building another ride with the same name in Universal Studios Florida, but the layouts of the two coasters will be substantially different. The East Coast version of Hollywood Drift is scheduled to open sometime in 2027.