Something broke near Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift at Universal Studios Hollywood, and the theme park community noticed immediately.
TLEV Media posted confirmed footage on X showing a shattered glass panel in one of the windows above the escalator area near the upcoming coaster. The full post read: “CONFIRMED: Glass window is shattered for Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift! Vehicles are STILL running though. Hopefully an easy fix.”
🚨CONFIRMED 🚨 Glass window is shattered for Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift!
Vehicles are STILL running though
Hopefully an easy fix 🙌🙌 #universalstudios #universalstudioshollywood pic.twitter.com/UgbWUkLv3V
— TLEV Media (@TLEVmedia) June 21, 2026
The key detail in that post is the second sentence. Whatever happened to the glass panel, the ride vehicles kept moving through testing without interruption. Whether the damage is connected to testing activity or is entirely unrelated is not confirmed. What is confirmed is that operations have not stopped and the general read on the situation is that the window is fixable rather than indicative of anything more serious.
This is a construction and testing environment. Things happen. The ride is still progressing.
The State of the Coaster Right Now
A June 18 visit to Universal Studios Hollywood captured a project that is in its final stages. New walls have gone up around the track featuring fabric panels designed to look like trees, giving the construction zone a visual finish that fits the hillside setting better than bare construction barriers. Along the nearby slope, new tan-colored stone gravel has been installed to smooth out and complete the landscape around the ride.
The tree-style walls do more than just screen the construction from casual view. They partially obscure one of the ride’s inversions, which is a deliberate choice. Guests walking through the park can see hints of the track layout without getting the full picture before the official opening experience delivers it.
Testing has been ongoing with empty ride vehicles, and those vehicles are worth describing specifically. Each train is made up of four iconic cars from the Fast & Furious franchise, which means even an empty test run on the coaster is a recognizable franchise showcase moving through the park. During testing observed on June 18, the vehicles were running at reduced speed, which is standard for this phase. They traveled through curves and inversions before stopping mid-track, another routine element of pre-opening testing.
The more significant milestone is that human rider testing has already taken place. The first testing with ride vehicles happened back in March. Human riders coming after that places the project well into its final preparation window. An opening is close.
What Kind of Ride This Actually Is
Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is not a mid-tier family coaster. The numbers make that clear.
It will hit 72 miles per hour at its top speed, which makes it the fastest coaster at any Universal theme park anywhere in the world. It runs along 4,100 feet of track with four inversions. Both of those figures put it in genuinely serious coaster territory, and the combination of speed and inversion count will make it one of the most physically demanding rides Universal has ever built.
The 72 mph figure has a direct practical consequence for guests. Universal Studios Hollywood will be deploying double-sided lockers specifically for this attraction, which is a first for the Hollywood park. At that speed, loose items simply cannot be safely carried on the ride. Guests will need to secure belongings before boarding, and accounting for that in your day plan, both the time it takes and the logistics of knowing where your group’s items are, is worth thinking through in advance.
Universal published and then retracted a June 26 opening date earlier this month after acknowledging the communication was an error. No official opening date has been confirmed. Given that human rider testing has already occurred and the construction finishing work visible during the June 18 visit appears to be in its final stages, the ride is clearly close. The shattered glass panel is not the story. The proximity to opening is.
The Florida Version Is Coming Too
For Universal Orlando guests who are not traveling to California, this is not a story that ends in Hollywood.
A second version of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is under construction at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. That build is replacing Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, which closed in August 2025. The Florida construction timeline is behind the Hollywood version, but both projects share the same fundamental ride concept.
For guests who were regular riders of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit and have been wondering what comes next in that footprint, the Fast & Furious coaster is the answer. The replacement is in progress. The timeline for the Florida version has not been confirmed publicly.
Planning Your Universal Studios Hollywood Visit
The shattered window will get fixed. The testing will continue. And Universal Studios Hollywood is getting progressively closer to opening the fastest roller coaster in its portfolio.
For guests planning a Hollywood trip in the near term, checking the current status of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift before you finalize your dates is worth doing. If it opens before your visit, plan for it to be one of the busiest attractions in the park from day one. New coasters at major theme parks, especially ones with a speed record and a globally recognized franchise behind them, draw significant crowds in their opening window. Arriving at or near park open on a day you want to ride it is the most effective crowd management strategy.
If the ride is not yet open during your visit, the visible testing and construction activity adds its own energy to the Universal Studios Hollywood experience right now. Watching a major new coaster being put through its paces from the park’s escalator area is a genuinely interesting thing to see, shattered glass panel and all.
If you want help building a Universal Studios Hollywood day plan around the current state of the park and what is available when you visit, leave a comment. We track these developments closely and will give you the most current information we have.
