Universal Studios Hollywood’s new Fast & Furious roller coaster is a scream, but that’s the problem
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The new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, on Aug 10.
PHOTO: ADAM AMENGUAL/NYTIMES
Brooks Barnes
TOLUCA LAKE, California – After three years of painstaking work, Universal Studios Hollywood recently pulled off a seemingly impossible feat: It built a 116kmh, looping roller coaster with spinning Fast & Furious cars – that barely makes a sound.
Universal had good reason to obsess. Residential neighbourhoods press against the theme park, and its own movie studio operates alongside it. To silence the ride, Universal went so far as to fill the 1,250m track with pea gravel, muting the vibrations that give coasters their roar.
