Months after construction started, it’s official: Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift is joining the thrill ride roster at Universal Orlando Resort. Here’s the full announcement about the new roller coaster that’ll replace Rip Ride Rockit (directly) and Supercharged (indirectly) at USF, dates & details, and our commentary.
Let’s start with the official announcement: Universal Orlando Resort is revving up for its next big thrill with Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift – a high-octane outdoor roller coaster that will join the Universal Studios Florida family in 2027.
Replacing the former Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster, Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will put guests in the driver seat of the high-speed thrills of Universal Pictures’ Fast & Furious universe like never before. Riders will experience the exhilarating sensation of 360-degree drifting as they speed through jaw-dropping maneuvers – including a 170-foot vertical “spike” that will send riders nearly 17 stories in the air over the outskirts of Universal CityWalk.
Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will join an award-winning collection of coaster experiences at Universal Orlando Resort and is another exciting example of the incredible growth, momentum and world-class innovation of Universal Destinations & Experiences. Universal Studios Hollywood will also debut its own, one-of-a-kind Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift outdoor roller coaster later this year.
As Universal Studios Florida makes way for this exciting new experience, Fast & Furious – Supercharged will permanently close in 2027. More information about Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will be shared in the months ahead, as well as the official closing date for Fast & Furious Supercharged.
As noted above, Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is also coming to Universal Studios Hollywood (concept art below). The press release indicates that’s a “one-of-a-kind” outdoor roller coaster, strongly suggesting the two thrill rides won’t be clones.
Universal Studios Hollywood has already announced that the California version of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will open in 2026. There isn’t an official date, but our expectation is before Spring Break.
The park gets particularly busy around Lunar New Year and Presidents’ Day, so we wouldn’t be surprised if it debuts by then. That’s what happened with Super Nintendo World a few years ago! Accordingly, our best guess for an official opening is between mid-February and early March 2026, hopefully with ample soft openings and Annual Passholder previews prior to then!
It’ll be interesting to see just how much distance there is between the two roller coasters being built simultaneously and sharing the same name.
Our expectation is that the big difference comes down to terrain. At Universal Studios Hollywood, the Fast & Furious coaster is being built on a hillside (see test images below), with the ride starting on the Upper Lot and continuing above the Lower Lot, even looping around the top escalator to the Lower Lot. The construction conditions have been challenging, and a lot is being done to mitigate noise.
There’s no hillside to build on at USF, so at minimum, that’ll be different. This also explains why Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will open much faster in Florida, as construction should be much easier without the hillside to contend with.
Universal Studios Hollywood has revealed that its Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will feature groundbreaking 360-degree rotation of the individual ride vehicles (same as USF) as they rocket guests up to 72 MPH, making it the fastest roller coaster in Universal history.
The coaster will feature 4,100 feet of elaborate track, meticulously constructed with sound reduction technology for a breathtaking experience. We’d expect the track length to vary between the coasts, again due to the different terrain and footprints where Universal is shoehorning this in at USF vs. USH.
Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is expected to be an Intamin multi-launch spinning model of roller coaster on both coasts. The fully rotational ride vehicles will create a seamless sensation of drifting cars as guests spin in motion at furiously fast speeds while being catapulted along an aerial track that winds its way over sections of the respective theme parks.
As for what Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is replacing, I say “good riddance” to both Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and Fast & Furious – Supercharged. I won’t miss either in the least.
As we’ve been saying for years–since literally before it even opened in Orlando–Fast & Furious – Supercharged is one of the worst theme park experiences anywhere, ever. In all of recorded human history. We were absolutely shocked when it was cloned to Orlando, and remain convinced that the Comcast executives that greenlit that terrible decision lost a bet with Bob Iger or something.
Fast & Furious – Supercharged does have a slight campy quality and has developed a minor cult following in the last few years. But much like the Walt Disney World diehards who insisted that Dino-Rama was great because of its backstory, those fans are wrong.
Fast & Furious – Supercharged is not so bad it’s good. It’s just plain bad. The Fast & Furious film franchise is much better suited with a thrill ride than anything with any semblance of story or narrative. Just exhilaration, excitement, and crazy car vibes.
Universal Orlando has not yet announced what will replace it, but literally anything would be better than Fast & Furious – Supercharged. That includes absolutely nothing at all. This is addition by subtraction at its finest, and Universal should be lauded for pulling the plug on something that’s still relatively new.
(I’m not even being remotely sarcastic–there have been rumors for years that guests who experienced Supercharged reported lower overall satisfaction with their days than those who did not–much like Stitch’s Great Escape at Walt Disney World. It takes an aggressively awful experience to have that kind of drag on GSAT scores.)
Same goes for Hollywood Rip Ride Rock-It, albeit to a lesser extent. The ride was rough, jarring and bumpy. Prior to closure, it seemed like it was down for maintenance more and more often, and never truly “fixed.” It was like the Matterhorn in terms of discomfort, except minus the charm and any redeeming qualities.
Beyond that, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit just looked ugly and stuck out like a sore thumb. If Universal Orlando is going to compete seriously with Walt Disney World, it can’t be just Epic Universe that’s a world-class theme park. The two existing gates have a ton of room for improvement, and a placemaking project around this area should be a top priority in that regard.
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit had big amusement park energy. It still wasn’t nearly as bad as Fast & Furious – Supercharged, but both belonged in the Theme Park Hall of Shame. For those keeping score at home, Dino-Rama and Animation Courtyard would’ve been right there alongside of them. And just like that, all are going or have gone extinct. What a time to be alive for theme park fans with decent taste.
Prior to Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift being announced, there were a ton of rumors about what would replace it. Or perhaps those were better categorized as speculation or wishful thinking among fans.
Possibilities included Wicked, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, and more. We wrote at the time that any of these struck us as plausible, if only because Universal is increasingly recognizing the value of nostalgia. We also speculated about dark horse candidates like Alfred Hitchcock or Murder She Wrote…who wouldn’t love a thrill ride narrated by the late, great Angela Lansbury?! I’ll leave you to determine whether or not that was sarcasm.
Honestly, I’m somewhat disappointed this isn’t a nostalgia play. Universal has a vast library of classics, and any one of those could stand the test of time. Moreover a great roller coaster is going to market itself, so it’s not as if a prolific contemporary franchise is needed. (I’d also add that Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift introduces potential consumer confusion between the two coasts.)
However, my perspective now is the same as it was before. That if an east coast incarnation of the Fast and the Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster is what’s needed to indirectly replace the abysmal Fast and the Furious: Supercharged, it’s a worthwhile trade. I’ll happily take this in order to get rid of that.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what the theme is here if we’re being honest. It’s going to be an absolutely incredible roller coaster and a much-needed addition to Universal Studios Florida.
Universal Orlando has had a spectacular streak of success with roller coasters recently–from Stardust Racers to VelociCoaster to Hagrid’s–and there’s every reason to believe that trifecta turns into a four-peat with Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift.
Stardust Racers is my favorite roller coaster anywhere, and VelociCoaster isn’t far behind. Given the overall quality of those rides, I’m inclined to give Universal Creative the benefit of the doubt. They’ve earned deference when it comes to thrill rides.
I do hope the placemaking is handled a little more thoughtfully here, but even a worst-case outcome is still way better than Rip Ride Rock-It and Supercharged. Honestly, my biggest wish with this news is that Supercharged were closing faster to bring a worthwhile replacement to that space ASAP, as USF urgently needs even more help. (Is there some sort of F&F quota I don’t know about?!)
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coming to Universal Studios Florida? Wish it were a different theme…or at least a different name? What would be your preferred IP? Happy or sad about Fast & Furious – Supercharged permanently closing? Will you miss it, or are you happy to say good riddance? Think this will be an Intamin roller coaster, or a different experience entirely? Thoughts on possible themes for the new ride? Agree or disagree with anything here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!