OK, just so everyone knows right now, I am a big fan of Star Trek. Do I dress up and attend all the conventions? No, I do not, but I love the shows, movies, and the mythology.
One of my favorite things “Trek” was in Las Vegas for the last 10 years residing at the Las Vegas Hilton – The Star Trek Experience.
I attended this attraction many times over the years, and was sad that it was closing on Sept 1, 2008. So my son and I took a last minute road trip to Las Vegas on August 31 to ride the rides and see the decommissioning ceremony the following day.
This trip was especially fun as it was the first time I took my boy to Las Vegas. Since he had always bugged me to take him to see Star Trek The Experience I figured it is now or never. We had a great trip staying at the Hilton and meeting some of the fans who were so much fun to talk with. My boy thought all of what he saw was very cool, and he became more of a fan by the end of our 2 days there. We rode the rides as many times as we could over the day and a half we were there and we were sad when it finally closed to the public and we were not let back on the ride again. But seeing his face when he was “beamed” on to the Enterprise for the first time was absolutely priceless, and we have many great memories of our trip.
Anyway, I always meant to post my review and last memories of that trip on the blog, but I just have not had time. So rather than post about the closure of that stellar attraction, I am happy to write about the news that Star Trek The Experience is coming back to Las Vegas, and portions of the attraction could be open as early as May 2009 to coincide with the release of the new Star Trek movie.
Rumors started about a month ago with the Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman, letting the news slip that the attraction is moving to Neonopolis in downtown Las Vegas on Freemont Street. (I was first alerted of this news by my Las Vegas twitter buddy @VegasBill who runs the FineHomesLV.com website)
Since then I have been running Google alerts for Star Trek The Experience (yes I know I sound like a dork), and today in my mailbox, to the delight of my eyes, I see the reopening seems to be confirmed.
In Business Las Vegas reports that Star Trek finds a new home and states that there will be five components to the new attraction that could be completed by next year.
- Food and Beverage – will be similar but will include significant upgrades. (I hope it remains Quarks Bar!)
- A museum
- Shops
- A 4-D movie theater with high tech seats
- The Simulators (the ride – most likely updated)
While it is still unclear what will be the same and what will be new, I am fairly sure that if developers are going to spend the money to re-open the attraction, they will do a great job. To do anything less would be a mistake. There are rumors of updated rides with new film footage (much needed) and additional items for the museum as well as a possible re-theme. Time will tell… but I am excited!
The other two alerts I saw today were from TrekMovie.com and Trek Today. Both sites reports stem from the In Business Las Vages article.
Personally I hope that the cast and crew of the previous attraction at the Hilton are going to be offered new jobs when the casting calls start. These folks who worked there were amazing. They truly made the “experience” an experience for me. From the staff working at Quarks Bar and restaurant who loved working there because they were fans themselves, to the cast that dressed up and played their characters flawlessly day in and day out (check out the Myspace page for Vernon Wilmer aka “Seven of Sixteen” a Borg Drone) . If these great folks have not moved on to new jobs, I sure do hope they return. If they do not however, I am sure the new attraction will have no problem finding new people, fans, to fill the shoes. It sure would be a fun place to work! If only I lived in Las Vegas…
Until next post…
- Doc
Wow! This news made my day! Just when I thought Las Vegas was losing it’s “fun” factor and open more worthless overpriced nightclubs comes this news!
Thanks!