In spite of his last name, Roy P. Disney is not much different than the many other residents who populate Toluca Lake. He, like so many others, has deep, familial roots in the community and appreciates his leafy and bucolic surroundings. And lately, he’s found that he has even more in common with his well-heeled neighbors — a mutual aversion to Universal Studios’ new Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift rollercoaster.
Ever since Universal began testing the ride in June, Disney has been subjected to a cacophony of blood-curdling screams from his home. Retreating to the confines of his lakeside sanctuary is not an option; he can still hear the irritating shrieks from inside his bedroom.
And now that Hollywood Drift has officially opened today with promises that it will rocket riders “at speeds of up to 72 MPH and at a force of up to 3.6 Gs along 4,100 feet of elaborate aerial track,” Disney is preparing for the worst. Now he’ll hear those screams from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day until — or if — Universal makes further attempts to mitigate the noise.
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“I feel like I’ve been talking to myself,” said Disney, the great-nephew of Walt Disney who talked to Deadline Wednesday from a backyard of a home on Valley Spring Road — a veritable ground zero when it comes to hearing (or suffering from) the sounds of the thrill seeking coaster riders. “I feel like I’m talking to myself. I feel like the complaints go into what I call a round file, and I feel like they figure it’s part of the war they’re playing, and they’re not listening to us, they’re not honoring us, and so we have to do more.”
Residents have formed their own community advisory panel to petition Universal for change. After months of complaints, the amusement park has agreed to meet with residents Sept. 30 on the Universal City Lot. There, longtime homeowners like Fred Berri — whose family has lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years — plan to share ideas on how to fix the problem.
“We are not asking for Universal to close down the ride,” Berri, an interior designer, tells Deadline. “We know it’s not going to go away. But there are ways to make the noise contained. There are many suggestions, one of which is from the movies. All the cars have hard tops. On the coaster, they’re convertibles. Why don’t they build plastic hard tops on those train cars? And then another really good suggestion came from a fan on Instagram who rode the ride. He said he really loved it but it’s ugly. You see nothing. Why don’t they build fake facades of the buildings from the movie so when you’re in the coaster you’re immersed in that experience? Not only could that wall serve a dual purpose of making the ride better, it’ll shield the sound from the neighborhood.”
Universal
The park has already taken some steps to hush their new attraction. The ride’s track sits on pea gravel to help quiet the roar of the coaster. There are also transparent “scream screens” that shield one of the higher curves of the ride, though residents believe it was added to protect the sensitive ears of employees in nearby corporate offices, not the Toluca Lake neighborhood. A 940-foot sound wall was also erected.
When contacted by Deadline Wednesday, a Universal Studios Hollywood spokesperson shared this statement: “Community feedback has been an important part of this process and has directly informed our work, including an additional sound barrier to further lessen sound levels in adjacent neighborhoods. Testing completed to date confirms the attraction is operating in compliance with sound ordinances applicable to Universal property, which are more stringent than City and County codes.”
The studio also put out a release Wednesday announcing the coaster’s official opening. It included this quote from Scott Strobl, the EVP and GM of Universal Studios Hollywood. “Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is officially open, and we are so excited to be able to put guests in the driver’s seat of one of the most celebrated film franchises in history. The debut of this first-of-it-kind roller coaster is a literal game changer for Universal Studios Hollywood, and we look forward to sharing this thrilling experience with fans of the FastSaga and our guests visiting from around the world.”
In the meantime, County Supervisor Kathryn Barger has inserted herself into the saga. Since Universal Studios sits on county land, she reached out to the Toluca Lake community with a letter that states “my office will continue working directly with residents and Universal Studios to monitor the attraction and identify any measures that may be necessary to minimize noise or other impacts on surrounding neighborhoods.”
That offers little comfort to folks like Nancy Jundi, who owns a home on the other side of Lankershim Boulevard near Valleyheart Drive (which she calls Universal Studios’ “front yard.”) Not only can she see the park’s giant Minion from her backyard, she can hear the constant wails from the coaster. The owner of a cloud based post and production company said the noise interrupts her daily business calls via Zoom.
“I knew I was moving into our version of Disneyland, but I didn’t expect all of this,” said Jundi.
