Cannot open iPhone Control Center on simulator
I needed to do this specifically to do a screen recording, but I realised you can't do it that way. So I found out about this way https://medium.com/@skounis/take-a-screenshot-or-record-video-with-ios-simulator-90c196e03b67 for anyone looking to do the same.
xcrun simctl io booted recordVideo <filename>.<extension>
To stop recording, press Control-C in Terminal.
PS - for iPhone X emulator you need to swipe from the top right down (even though that doesn't get you what you want)
Unfortunately the Simulator does not show a true Control Center. Yes, a blank screen appears, but no controls are available in there. Welcome to iOS ;]