A Dodge Charger Ride Vehicle Is Being Pulled Along Part of Hollywood Drift's Track by Rope at Universal Studios Florida

There is a car on the track.

WDW News Today published aerial and ground photos on Saturday showing that Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift has moved from steel and scenery into its first phase of ride testing at Universal Studios Florida. A black ride vehicle built to look like Dominic Toretto's 1970 Dodge Charger is sitting in the coaster's first launch, and it has a rope tied to the front of it.

A black ride vehicle sits on the track next to the burgundy truck cab prop, with crews working around it on the metal decking. Aerial photo: bioreconstruct, via WDW News Today.

Rope, not launch

The rope is the point. It lets crews pull the vehicle along the track without firing the coaster's launch system, which is why WDW News Today describes the work as "pull-through testing rather than powered track testing." It is the slow, deliberate version: move a car along the track by rope and check that everything clears.

What it is checking is the reason for the odd-looking hardware bolted to the car. WDW News Today reports that arched metal frames called rider reach envelopes are attached to the vehicle, and that they represent the furthest a rider could reach out beyond the car. Drag those arcs along the track and you find out whether a guest with an arm out is going to touch a structure, a prop or a piece of scenery before the ride ever runs at speed.

An annotated aerial marking four parts of the test setup, including the green winch bolted to the track at number four. Aerial photo: bioreconstruct, via WDW News Today.

A second winch, pulling the wrong way on purpose

The more interesting rig is at the other end. Crews have fixed another spool to the return-to-station hill, at its high point behind Universal Music Plaza, and WDW News Today reports that bioreconstruct notes the rig appears set up to pull a car through that stretch against the coaster's normal direction of travel.

WDW News Today's own reporter photographed it from inside the park: a green spool-like apparatus clamped to the track at the crest of the return hill, held on with an orange mounting assembly, with a warning flag standing nearby.

The green spool clamped to the crest of the return hill, above the Universal Music Plaza stage. Photo: WDW News Today.

There are more cars waiting, too. WDW News Today reports that one car is already staged in the station, and that a second, with Mazda-inspired bodywork, sits under a tarp nearby and is expected to be used for more pull-through testing.

The scenery is catching up

The station's industrial dressing has kept moving as well. Corrugated panels in a range of colors have been painted and weathered to look like stacks of old, rusty shipping containers, and they surround the launch area alongside the large truck props. During the ride, cars are to launch beneath the trailer of a jackknifed truck, which doubles as cover for the nearby overbanked hill. We wrote about that scenery earlier this week in the shipping container and jackknifed truck aerials.

Over in the New York area, the steel framework near the site of the attraction's future facade is going vertical. WDW News Today reports the framework now stands several stories tall, with columns and beams forming a run of rectangular bays, a mobile crane lifting another steel truss above the framework, and workers on boom lifts guiding the steel. There are no exterior walls or roof yet, and the new frame runs right up against the existing themed facade, which keeps its brick, its stone detailing and its large arched opening.

The new steel framework rising directly against the existing brick facade, with a boom lift working inside the bays. Photo: WDW News Today.

Where the project stands

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is due to open in 2027 at Universal Studios Florida, taking the place of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Its predecessor in the franchise, Fast & Furious - Supercharged, permanently closed on August 16, 2026. The coaster's vehicles will rotate 360 degrees to simulate drifting, and a 170-foot vertical spike will extend near Universal CityWalk.

What this does and does not tell you: Pull-through testing is an early milestone, not a countdown. It means the track is complete enough and the scenery close enough to final that clearances can be measured. Powered, full-speed testing is a separate step that comes later, and WDW News Today does not report when it will begin. Universal has not announced an Orlando opening date beyond 2027. The California version of the coaster, at Universal Studios Hollywood, opened on September 16, 2026.

Sources

• WDW News Today, Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift Begins Pull-Through Ride Vehicle Testing at Universal Studios Florida
• Universal Destinations & Experiences press releases

Image credits: Aerial photos by bioreconstruct, published by WDW News Today. Ground photos by WDW News Today.