Universal Studios Hollywood is about to put its foot flat to the floor. Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift opens on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, bringing the famous movie saga off the screen and onto 4,100 feet of steel, speed and very deliberate sideways action.
The new ride will be the park’s first outdoor, high-speed roller coaster. It will also be the fastest coaster in the Universal Destinations & Experiences portfolio. Top speed is 72 mph, or about 116 km/h.
For a park built on movie magic, that is a big statement. Universal is no longer asking guests to watch the chase scene. It is putting them in the middle of one.
The coaster sits on the Upper Lot, where spare land is hardly abundant. Universal Creative has used the park’s steep hillside as part of the ride. The track runs over and under parts of the multilevel Starway escalator and opens up views across the San Fernando Valley, the studio lot and the theme park.
It is clever design in a place where empty real estate is about as easy to find as an empty Los Angeles freeway at peak hour.
Four launches and nowhere for nerves to hide
The raw numbers will please serious thrill seekers. Hollywood Drift has four launches, an inverted dive loop, a twisted pretzel loop and an inverted stall. Riders will feel forces of up to 3.6 G.
The track runs for 4,100 feet, or about 1.25 kilometres. Universal says it has also used sound-reduction technology. That makes sense for a coaster weaving through a working film studio and a busy entertainment precinct.
Speed, however, is only half the story.
The ride’s party trick is its rotating cars. Each one can turn through 360 degrees while moving along the track.
The cars are programmed separately, which lets Universal create a drifting effect rather than a simple forward-facing coaster ride. That is the point where Hollywood Drift moves from “fast” to Fast & Furious.
Guests will ride in one of four designs inspired by the films: a Dodge Charger, Mazda RX-7, Nissan Skyline GT-R or Toyota Supra. Each vehicle has its own audio system, with engine and sound effects matched to the car.
Because each vehicle can rotate on its own, the view and movement can differ by seat. That gives keen riders a perfectly respectable excuse to go around again.
Universal is unlikely to complain.
Fast & Furious celebrates 25 years
The attraction arrives as the Fast & Furious franchise marks its 25th anniversary. The first film, The Fast and the Furious, opened in 2001. Since then, the franchise has earned more than US$7 billion at the worldwide box office.
The next film, Fast Forever, is due in cinemas on 17 March 2028.
That gives the new coaster a useful role. It keeps the brand in front of fans while the next film works its way towards release.
And, for Universal, that is the beauty of owning both the movies and the machinery. A film franchise does not have to disappear between sequels when its audience can physically climb aboard.
The show begins in the queue
The experience starts before the first launch.
Hollywood Drift sits inside a large red-brick, garage-style building. Two stationary prop-car reproductions stand outside for photographs.
A section of track also shoots through a clear enclosure in the queue. Waiting guests will see trains race past before they board. It is a simple idea, but a good one. The queue becomes part of the build-up.
Universal has also filled the queue with recreated film props. They include the Car Cannon linked to Fast & Furious 6, the Vault Truck from Fast 5, Letty Ortiz’s motorcycle from F9, a Ramp Car linked to Owen Shaw and the Rolling Bomb from Fast X.
The exhibit also includes a recreation of the rig used for rollover stunts. Select displays will have QR codes that connect to Universal’s Backlot Club. Fans can scan them for more behind-the-scenes detail.
That extra layer is useful because not every visitor will know the saga down to the last gear change. Die-hard fans can dig deeper. Everyone else can keep moving towards the coaster.
Hollywood art meets Hollywood horsepower
The station gets its own dose of visual muscle.
Artist Tristan Eaton has created a large mural based on the final street race in the original 2001 film. It features the Dodge Charger and Toyota Supra racing beside a speeding train.
A second Eaton mural in the queue pays tribute to the wider franchise.
It is a strong fit for a ride that depends as much on style and theatre as speed.
For the travel trade, however, the importance goes beyond whether clients can cope with 3.6 G.
A fresh Los Angeles tourism hook
Universal Studios Hollywood has spent years building its case as a full-day Los Angeles attraction.
SUPER NINTENDO WORLD, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Jurassic World – The Ride and the Studio Tour already give visitors a broad mix of family fun, screen-based worlds and bigger thrills.
Hollywood Drift adds something the Hollywood park has long lacked: a major outdoor coaster with a strong skyline presence.
That matters in theme-park marketing.
A large coaster can be seen, filmed and shared. It can sell the experience before a traveller has even bought a ticket.
It also gives travel advisers a fresh reason to talk about Universal Studios Hollywood when they build California itineraries. Los Angeles is a familiar US gateway for Australians, and a major new ride can help turn a short stopover into an extra night or a full day at the park.
The 16 September opening date also helps with planning. Australian visitors travelling during the northern autumn will know exactly when the new attraction opens.
It can fit neatly into trips that combine Los Angeles with Anaheim, Las Vegas or wider US touring.
That is where the commercial value of attractions such as Hollywood Drift becomes clear. The ride is not simply another entertainment product inside the gates. It gives wholesalers, travel advisers and destination marketers something new to sell around an established Los Angeles itinerary.
Newness matters in tourism. So does familiarity.
Fast & Furious gives Universal both.
Lock the phone away seriously
There are practical points worth noting.
Guests must put all belongings in complimentary lockers inside the queue. They must also pass through metal detection before they enter the ride platform.
Phones and other loose items need to stay in the lockers.
At 116 km/h, while the car is spinning into a drift, this may be one of those rare moments when not filming everything is a sound life choice.
Hollywood Drift also arrives at a busy time for Los Angeles tourism. Theme parks must compete with sport, concerts, dining, beaches, shopping, film culture and major events for every visitor’s time.
A new ride tied to a 25-year-old global film brand gives Universal a clear sales hook. It is easy to understand, easy to picture and hard to ignore.
The concept can almost be summed up in one line:
Fast & Furious except this time you are on the ride.
When the first trains launch on 16 September, Hollywood will have a new way to drift legally, loudly and with considerably better insurance.
By: Jason Smith – © 2026.
Read Time: 5 minutes.
Author Bio:
Jason Smith didn’t learn travel from textbooks. He learned it in airports, taxis and hotel lobbies, watching the business unfold long before he played his own part. Half American, half Asian, he grew up around the quiet workings of tourism, where people come and go, and stories rarely stand still.
Bangkok came first, then formal study, then a career that carried him through Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. Each place left something behind. In the end, Thailand felt like home, along with a senior role in hotel sales.
Then everything stopped. Borders shut, planes grounded, and Jason found himself back in America with time to reflect.
Now at Global Travel Media, he writes travel as it really is, not polished, not perfect, but human, and all the better for it.
