The Past and Future of Fast and Furious at Universal Hollywood

It's 2015, and this year is going to bring one new attraction and one new land to Universal Studios Hollywood. We'll take a similar look at The Simpsons in a few weeks, but we thought we'd take a look at the past of Fast and Furious at the park. 

One attraction based on the one movie that has nothing to do with the other 6 using cool technology, but with REALLY bad execution, and another capitalizing on the continuing popularity of the franchise with great new technology. We just hope the story will be great on the new one. 

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Written by Gregg Condon

The Year is 2006. The first two Fast and Furious movies have been moderately successful. At least successful enough to justify a second sequel. So what does Universal Studios do? Pulls a "Halloween" and totally goes away from what made the first two movies successful and moves the series to Tokyo. Unlike Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Tokyo Drift isn't going to turn into a classic. 

But that didn't stop them from putting in a tram attraction featuring some "sets" and effects from the movie. 

The attraction starts by showing us some effects that were apparently in the movie. 

Such as gunfire

And actual fire 

Now it's time to combine the effects

FIRE!!! 

And the cars fly through the air with the help of Kuka arm technology

So if that was the end of the attraction, that would have been fine. Some water, some fire, some cars flying through the air. 

But unfortunately for Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, this wasn't the end. Because it's modern, and pop culture and hip, fire and water and cars flying apparently isn't enough. And these cars have to dance. 

Cue Gasolina by Daddy Yankee (Click at your own risk) and the cars dancing and flipping and finally bowing to the audience. 

The stage where Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift was is still there, between the "Universal Cars" and "Jurassic Park" sets. If you look closely today, you can still see some of the prop pieces inside. 

Mercifully, in 2013 this attraction closed for good, as it was REALLY bad. I don't think it matters if you are a fan of the franchise or not, a bad attraction is a bad attraction. 

Thankfully, in mid 2014 Universal announced a new Fast and Furious attraction for the Tram Tour replacing the Tomb of the Mummy. Thankfully they aren't re-purposing the spinning tunnel once again, but have a new state of the art building under construction. 

Below, you'll see what the site looked like throughout 2014, starting with April. 

By June 2014 the frame was going up. 

September 2014, still a lot of frame on one of the buildings ...  

While the other building was almost fully enclosed

By October there really wasn't much to see but a big square building

Looking back through our November/December/January updates, there really hasn't been a whole lot of change in this area. 

Some more artwork of the attraction which promises to use the amazing technology used in King Kong 360 3D along with practical sets. 

Fast and Furious Supercharged is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2015. Once we get a firm opening date we'll certainly be sharing it with you. 

So what do you think about the new attraction coming to the tram tour? Are you excited about something new? Do you like the theme? Ready to see how the same technology they used for King Kong 360 3D is plussed with actual sets? Be sure to let us know in the comments. 

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