Universal's Fast & Furious Coaster Opened. Neighbors Say They Hear Screams.

Universal says testing shows the ride meets sound ordinance limits; Toluca Lake residents say the mitigation hasn't worked.

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, a 72-mph outdoor roller coaster, opened at Universal Studios Hollywood on September 15, 2026. A mile downhill in Toluca Lake, the San Fernando Valley neighborhood behind the park, residents say the screaming from the ride carries into their yards, TheWrap reported.

Fred Iberri, who lives about a mile from the track, woke at 1:30 a.m. one night a few weeks ago to the sound of screaming, walked into his backyard, and heard it stop. He told the outlet he couldn't tell whether the noise had been real, and that he's close to a breakdown.

Universal has been building against this complaint for years. Before the ride opened the company packed the track bed with gravel and hung half-pipe shields over stretches of it, and it said the cars can be turned away from the houses as they drift. It also committed to a sound-retention wall of Acoustiblok material longer than two football fields, and pledged to run the coaster only until 7 p.m., or 10 p.m. during Halloween Horror Nights.

Last month the company said its measurements came back clean: “Testing completed to date confirms the attraction is operating in compliance with sound ordinance requirements.” In a letter to the neighborhood in early August, Universal said it was exploring further measures and expected people would still hear the ride while it runs.

On opening day, roughly a dozen people met in a Toluca Lake backyard near the Lakeside Golf Club under the name Universal City Neighbors, the outlet reported. The group's press release says it isn't opposed to the ride or to the park's growth, and that the noise arrives less than halfway into a 20-year expansion plan. The Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council and the Studio City Neighborhood Council have each adopted resolutions urging Universal to pursue real mitigation.

Roy Disney, a grandson of Roy E. Disney and a Toluca Lake resident, told TheWrap he can hear that nothing has changed, and called the company's assurances lies. “They've destroyed the 100-year-old community for what, corporate profit?” he said.

He isn't only worried about this ride.

Disney said dog walkers have stopped using Valley Spring because of the sound. One neighbor did the arithmetic out loud — a train launching every 36 seconds, 16 to 20 riders aboard — and put it near 10,000 screams a day. Another asked to see the studies behind the compliance finding. One said he wouldn't object to being paid.

None of this is new ground between the park and the hill. Complaints from Toluca Lake helped close the open-air Universal Amphitheater in 1980, and it came back with a roof; when the WaterWorld show started firing real guns in 1995, Universal swapped in recordings over the speakers.

Los Angeles County approved roughly 1.9 million square feet of development at Universal City in 2013, under a plan sketched across 25 years. Residents say nothing in it described a high-speed outdoor thrill ride. Universal built one anyway.

The company says it will keep talking with the neighborhood. The coaster stops at 7 p.m. — until Halloween Horror Nights, when it runs to 10.

Source: thewrap.com, retrieved September 18, 2026.