Toluca Lake residents complain of noise from Fast & Furious ride
Toluca Lake residents are grappling with daily disturbances from the new “Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift” roller coaster, which sends 360-degree rotating vehicles along 4,100 feet of track at speeds up to 72 miles per hour. The screams from riders echo across the adjacent Lakeside Golf Course into the neighborhood from morning until night, prompting intense friction between the community and the studio.
Morning-to-Night Screams and Sleepless Residents
For more than sixty years, residents of the 1.2-square-mile Toluca Lake neighborhood coexisted with the theme park, separated only by the golf course. That neighborhood dynamic shifted when NBCUniversal began testing the park’s first high-speed outdoor roller coaster. Fourth-generation resident Fred Iberri stated that he has been haunted by the psychic residue of hearing human shrieks. Iberri described waking up in the middle of the night and walking outside after his brain tricked him into hearing voices. Julie Greenwald, a resident living in a newly built home equipped with double-paned windows and modern insulation, noted that she still hears the screams with her doors and windows closed. At a normal operating schedule, Iberri told us, the noise is unbearable and induces paranoia.
Universal Offers Time Limits as Executive Suggests Noise-Canceling Headphones
On September 30, Universal hosted a community meeting on the lot for around 350 residents to voice their concerns. Park officials offered a concession to start the ride at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. and end it before 10 p.m., though that adjustment is currently slated to last only until the end of the year. Tension escalated further when a Universal engineering executive allegedly told residents that the issue could be resolved if everyone wore noise-canceling headphones. In response, a local resident created satirical posters featuring a smiling Marie Antoinette on the ride wearing pearls and Ray-Bans with the caption “Let them wear headphones.” An NBCUniversal spokesperson declined to comment on the executive’s suggestion when asked.
Comparisons to Anaheim and Future Expansion Plans
Longtime resident Roy Disney criticized the studio’s handling of the situation, noting that Disneyland operates eight scream rides in Anaheim without provoking neighborhood complaints. Disney pointed out that Space Mountain was originally conceived as an outdoor roller coaster before officials enclosed it to mitigate noise. NBCUniversal maintains that the ride is in full compliance with local sound standards. A company source noted that the installation features two sizable sound barriers and ongoing sound monitoring. The theme park business accounts for nearly a quarter of Comcast’s revenue and will grow more prominent following its upcoming spinoff by the end of the year, a financial impact highlighted by Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong during a recent earnings call. The roller coaster represents an early phase of NBCUniversal’s 25-year Evolution Plan, which encompasses 1.89 million square feet of new development. Park officials maintain that enclosing the roller coaster is impossible, while residents insist that anything short of full enclosure remains unacceptable as further stakeholder discussions continue.
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