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I ❤ LA | Part 2

Charlotte
Mar 22, 2018
3 min read

Hiya, welcome back to my mini-blog of my business retreat to LA. If you're interested in checking out Part 1 you can click here. This post shares about my adventures at Universal Studios, meditation, and some new emotions!

Day 2

Like the first day, we started our usual 8am breakfast in the conference area, but at the Hilton hotel instead. I think the Sheraton couldn't make the arrangement and therefore sourced the conference room out to Hilton. The Hilton seemed much livelier overall. Their facility was smaller and less appealing, but they had more business. Maybe the price difference between the two hotels was significant?

Anyways, at breakfast everyone spent the morning joking about their non-existent sexual escapades. I sat next to Karen who was with another organization based in New York. We just ate my breakfast in smiles. By that time I still wasn't really awake. Meetings ensued afterwards, which dragged on to around the 2:30pm mark. By this point, I was better understanding the significance of a business retreat as a workforce tool. Even if you've never talked with the person, you form somewhat of a camaraderie just by experiencing the same conditions. Everyone was more talkative overall. This impacted our meetings positively and we got a lot more done. (I'm fuckin adultin ya'll)

This is the view from a connecting elevator between the Sheraton and the Hilton.

Today was a rainy day. In fact, it rained for the remainder of the trip. Most of the rain subsided by nighttime, but our trip to Universal was plagued with it. Here is a shot of the dreary looking Harry Potter Ride newest to Universal. I didn't get footage of the ride, but it was the most intense roller coaster experience ever. I have a VERY high tolerance for roller coasters. Charlotte doesn't get scared much! (haunted houses on the other hand...)

So this Harry Potter Ride started us off by entering a locker room area. We stowed away our things and began waiting in line. Even in this rain, there were a lot of people waiting for this ride. As we twisted in through the garden, into the halls of the castle; there were many props to immerse the audience in the Harry Potter world. If you couldn't tell already, I'm not familiar with the franchise. But all wasn't lost on me - I have a general sense of the whole wizard thing!

When our wait finally ended, we approached the overhanging seats of the coaster. It's one of those rides where your legs swing free. I went with Karen at the time. Through the long wait of twists and turns, we chatted and bonded quite well. She was kind of like a big sister to me. So when we finally got on the ride, I was quite glad I got to share this moment with a friend.

The ride was technologically superior to anything I've ever experienced before. It weaved the standard roller coaster track with physical props, and high fidelity screens stretching beyond your peripheral vision. I was legit scared at times and found myself leaning forward at others. As the story goes, the riders we being assailed by various evils in Harry Potter lore. We were attacked by ghosts, giant FUCKING spiders and each time we narrowly escaped. When that spider appeared, the sounds, rumbling, and sheer size of the prop was terrifying. Karen and I were screaming uncontrollably. The ride rhythmically sent us from plummeting many feet downwards into a valley and soaring narrowly over the hills. They even threw in a segment of Quidditch!

AFter all of that the rest of the rides paled in comparison. The Simpsons ride made me more sick than anything, the Transformers ride (and franchise reboot) felt dated. They all weaved similar elements to the Harry Potter ride together but did it on a smaller scale and included many more shoulder jarring stops.

We stopped by to grab some food at the nearby Krusty Burger. I ordered the footlong hot dog. It was gigantic. Karen was laughing at me and my food. We both thought it was pretty funny in a pervy way. But $14 for a footlong with a boat of fries and a drink? It wasn't a bad deal. Universal was an awesome experience and we headed back to the hotel for a buffet and I was off to bed.