A first-time visitor to Universal Studios Hollywood rides a Hippogriff, among other adventures.

What happens when a group of journalists visit Universal Studios Hollywood?

A few staffers from the Monterey County Weekly were in Los Angeles over the weekend for the California Journalism Awards on Saturday, May 17, where we took home a slew of awards—most notably General Excellence in our division for the second year in a row.

The party didn’t end when the last award was given out and the last tequila shot was downed at the Universal City Hilton—it spilled over into the next day at Universal Studios (with a few-hour sleep break in-between).

(Speaking of that hotel, a sign in at least one of the rooms warns against threatening behavior toward cleaning staff. It’s a serious subject, but I just couldn’t get past the sign’s spelling of the word “threatening”: “threating.” It got me wondering—was my memory of the word’s spelling a victim of the Mandela Effect? Five minutes of internet searching later, and I’m still confused.)

Our journey into the park began with quick jaunt through the CityWalk, a commercialized area to whet your appetite before you enter the main commercialized area (but with thrilling rides to help you forget you’re in a commercial) with hints of Cannery Row in Monterey (Bubba Gump! It’Sugar!).

Being the theme park nerd of the group, I was looked upon as the “guide” for our visit. (Now that I’ve actually been to Universal Studios, I can solidify my title as a nerd.) I immediately wanted to check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, having been a casual fan of the books and movies since they were released.

The bookworm in our group was immediately drawn to a display of magic wands, and grabbed Hermione Granger’s wand—fans of the series will understand how very fitting that was.

After a ride on Flight of the Hippogriff, adding to my lifetime roller coaster credit count, we headed to the main attraction of the area: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Even though it’s been nearly a decade since this ride opened, I’ve purposely avoided reading much about it online until I could experience it in real life (although I’ve seen the headlines about people not being able to fit on it). I’ll just say the ride is like nothing I’ve ever experienced, in the best way possible.

The Simpsons fan of the group was disappointed that he couldn’t find a Duff beer in the iconic can. Granted, it was only 11am at this point, but refer to the opening question of this article.

A visit to a theme park requires you to suspend your disbelief, which is something that’s nearly impossible to do as a reporter. So I appreciated the playful skepticism of our guide Bob on the Studio Tour, who wasn’t afraid to tell something as it is.

As we approached one of the studios, he prefaced it by saying we were about to enter a “hot set,” or where a new television show was being filmed. But he immediately followed that up by noting that what he just said was a bunch of baloney, as longtime visitors knew already that we were heading into the classic “earthquake” portion of the tour.

The guide also gave credit to the “acting job” by participants on the tour when they expressed surprise by the Jaws area. It’s been there for nearly 50 years—chances are you know what happens, even if you’ve never been to a theme park in your life.

As journalists, we try to dig below the surface. Here at Universal Studios, the multiple escalators taking guests down to the Lower Lot seemingly did that for us—literally.

A half-day at Universal Studios was not enough to see everything. The under-construction Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster guarantees that I’ll be back in 2026.