Universal Studios Hollywood is a theme park that is often overshadowed by its bigger brother in Orlando. However, USH is getting ready to make a huge statement with a brand new roller coaster based on a franchise that has needed its own roller coaster for decades. Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is set to open next year, and today we got a fresh look at the ride, and honestly, I’m more excited for this than the next Fast movie.
This morning, Universal Studios Hollywood released a new video that includes computer renderings of what the experience of Hollywood Drift will be like. For fans of the franchise, it looks like exactly what anybody excited for the next Fast & Furious movie would want, and for me, I’d rather get on this ride and feel like I’m living life a quarter mile at a time than watch other people do that on a screen. Check it out:
I’m as interested to see how the cliffhanger ending of Fast X resolves as anybody. Having said that, the next movie appears to be in limbo and nobody knows when it will actually film, never mind be released. If this is what I’ll get in the interim, I’ll take it.
In many ways, Hollywood Drift reminds me of another of my favorite recent roller coasters, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Disney World’s Epcot. The way the vehicles independently rotate adds an additional thrill. On the Guardians ride, the rotation is designed to focus the rider’s attention on a story being told. Here, it simulates the feeling of drifting.
The video includes a rendering of what has been my favorite part of the ride since it was initially rumored, the inversion that will take riders over the escalators between the upper and lower lot of Universal Studios Hollywood. It means that guests traveling through the park will get a unique view of the ride, and those on the ride will see the park in a fresh way as well.
Hollywood Drift will be the first outdoor roller coaster ever at Universal Studios Hollywood. It’s a park that has an understandable difficulty with outdoor attractions, due to the fact that it is adjacent to a functioning film studio. The new coaster will reportedly take advantage of advancements in sound dampening that will reduce the noise of the ride, allowing film productions and roller coaster fans to exist side-by-side.
In addition to the video, Universal Studios Hollywood unveiled one of the ride vehicles, a roller coaster version of Dominic Toretto’s Dodge Charger. It looks like this car has room for the whole family.
Get your first look at the Fast & Furious ride vehicle—the Dodge Charger—on display during Universal Mega Movie Summer, starting June 13 through August 10, 2025. pic.twitter.com/EkTdhbyCJuJune 12, 2025
Considering the only Fast & Furious attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood was the underwhelming Fast & Furious: Supercharged, a piece of the Universal Studios Tour, it’s fantastic to see a franchise called Fast & Furious finally get an attraction worthy of that name.
No opening date for Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift has been given beyond 2026. Odds are the attraction will open in late spring or early summer, just in time for the busiest season. This means we’re just about a year away from the ride. Considering we have no idea when the next Fast & Furious movie will get here, this ride may be the thing for fans to be excited about.
