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For years, Leonard R. Garner Jr. watched construction crews build Universal Studios Hollywood’s newest thrill ride from his front porch in Toluca Lake. When early testing began this spring, he felt relieved. “I was amazed at how quiet it was,” he said. “I could not hear it at all.” That calm vanished the moment Universal ran Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift with a full car of riders. Piercing screams now cut through the neighborhood, and residents say their quiet corner of Los Angeles has been transformed.
Toluca Lake sits directly beneath Universal’s Upper Lot, tucked between the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Nintendo World. Residents describe screams so loud they pierce double-paned windows. Dr. Christopher Zito called the sound “disturbing.” Neighbor Patrick Nazari said the noise makes it sound like violence is unfolding just over the fence. “You think something is happening,” he said. “Like someone is getting murdered out there.” For a neighborhood built around movie-making history, not amusement park thrills, the shift feels jarring.
Rob Cerny had just stepped off a nearby Metro station when he first heard it. The sound repeated every minute, sharp and relentless. When he walked through his front door, his wife was already upset. “It’s made our backyard unusable,” he told reporters. “It’s extremely prominent, the noise. I really don’t think this is going to be tenable.” Cerny has lived beside the park for three decades, since long before this ride was ever imagined.
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Sound Walls, Scream Shields and Pea Gravel Couldn’t Keep the Coaster Quiet
Universal anticipated backlash before Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift ever opened. The company built a dedicated webpage promoting the ride’s noise reduction technology, and engineers installed sound walls, scream shields and pea gravel packed into the track itself. Spanning 4,100 feet across the Upper Lot, the coaster reaches 72 miles per hour, the fastest in any Universal park, and spins riders through four inversions using rotating cars styled after the franchise’s iconic vehicles.
Residents say the mitigation efforts help, but not enough. Karen Rogers, who has lived in Toluca Lake for more than two decades, remembers when the park revolved entirely around film history rather than roller coasters. “It was never a roller coaster kind of park,” she said. “This is different because it’s hanging over a neighborhood. It’s just disappointing.” Rogers and her husband have started shopping for backyard water fountains, hoping running water might help drown out the screams.
Cerny agrees the noise is unlike anything the park has produced before. Ambient sound from Wizarding World barely registers beyond the park’s walls, he said. This is different. “Screaming is a disturbing noise,” he said. “It’s not a lullaby.” Other neighbors describe the sound spilling across the adjacent Lakeside Golf Course and drifting into homes late at night, long after most families expect the neighborhood to go quiet.
County Records Show No Rule Required Universal to Warn Residents
Despite the outcry, there is no evidence the coaster violates any Los Angeles County regulation. The path for Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift was cleared under the 2013 Universal Studios Specific Plan, a document approved by the county that outlined future height, noise and expansion allowances. Nothing in that plan mentioned coaster specifics, but county officials say nothing in Universal’s pitch violated its terms either, meaning no public hearing was legally required before construction began.
That legal gap has left some residents feeling blindsided, unaware of what was coming until construction was already underway. Universal is required to monitor noise at six designated sites around the park, with at least three positioned near Toluca Lake’s Valley Springs Lane. County officials classify the screams as “operational noise,” the same category as general attraction sound, with allowable peak levels hovering around 50 decibels, comparable to steady rainfall or a running dishwasher.
Neighbors aren’t just relying on Universal’s monitors. Zito said he regularly approaches park technicians stationed with sound equipment near his home. “You’re not here when it’s really noisy,” he tells them. Another resident downloaded a decibel-tracking app to log noise levels throughout the day, hoping to build a record strong enough to prompt action. The office of County Supervisor Kathryn Barger confirmed it is actively facilitating conversations between residents and Universal Studios.
Universal Says It’s Reviewing Sound Levels as the Coaster Nears Its Public Debut
Universal Studios Hollywood has responded to the complaints without committing to major structural changes. “We appreciate hearing from the community, and that feedback is an important part of the process,” the company said in a statement, adding that the ride remains in its testing and commissioning phase, a period designed to evaluate performance under varying conditions while sound levels are reviewed for compliance.
Barger’s communications director, Helen Chavez Garcia, described Universal as a “very willing partner” working to balance community concerns against its goal of keeping the park competitive. Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift has been nearly a decade in development and is already listed on Universal’s official app, a signal that its public opening is close. A second version of the same ride is under construction at Universal Studios Florida, replacing the former Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit.
For Garner, the coaster still holds its appeal. He has previewed Universal’s newest attractions before the general public many times and still hopes to experience Hollywood Drift’s 72 mph spin firsthand. But even his enthusiasm carries a limit. “I’m dying to get on it,” he said. Then, after a pause: “But I don’t want to have to listen to it all day and into the night.” For Toluca Lake, that tension between spectacle and stillness is now permanent.