‘Like someone is getting murdered out there’: Fast & Furious roller coaster rattles locals
For residents near Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, there’s never a quiet moment as piercing screams cut through the neighbourhood
Leonard R. Garner Jnr loves roller coasters. And the mostly-retired television director and actor has a place in his heart for Universal Studios Hollywood, the theme park in California atop the studio where he spent many days behind a camera.
He also adores the tranquillity of his home. As a resident of Toluca Lake, the tiny neighbourhood nestled below The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Super Nintendo World and other park staples, Garner watched with curiosity as Universal Studios began erecting Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, its new outdoor, high-speed thrill ride. He continued to track the construction over the next three or four years while out on afternoon walks.
At last, when Universal Studios began testing the ride in spring 2026, Garner breathed a sigh of relief. “I was amazed at how quiet it was,” he says. “I could not hear it at all.”
But he was not considering one detail: there were no people on it.
Everything changed, Garner and numerous other Toluca Lake residents say, when Universal Studios began running the coaster with a full slate of riders. There were screams. They were loud, piercing even double-glazed windows. And they were constant.
“You think something is happening,” says Patrick Nazari, another resident. “Like someone is getting murdered out there.”