It was bound to happen sooner or later, and though I’ve known this was coming for a few months now, I was still really sad to read confirmation that Star Trek: The Experience is closing September first.
Offering a sad commentary on the state of the Star Trek franchise, the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas will shut down Star Trek : The Experience this fall.
Part simulator, part environment, part museum and (of course) part gift shop/restaurant, the Experience opened 10 years ago during the height of popularity for the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies.
But, the exhibit isn’t drawing the fans it once did — just as the franchise is fading off the public radar. While J.J. Abrams is hustling to save Star Trek on the big screen, it’s too late to save it in Vegas.
The Experience will always be special to me, because, as I wrote in the Geek in Review (excerpted from Dancing Barefoot):
The Transporter Chief says, “Welcome to the 24th century. You are aboard the starship Enterprise.”
She could have said to me, “Welcome to 1987, Wil. You are on Stage 9.”
She touches her communicator and says, “I have them, Commander.”
Jonathan Frakes’ voice booms over the comm, “Good work, Lieutenant. Please take them to the bridge.”
We leave the transporter room and walk down a long corridor which is identical to the ones I walked down every day. I realize as we walk that, in my mind, I’m filling in the rest of the sound stage. I’m surprised when we don’t end up in engineering at the end of the corridor. Instead, we are herded into a turbolift, where we enjoy some more special effects. The turbolift shakes and hums . . . it’s infinitely cooler than the real ones we would stand in for the show.
When the turbolift doors open, and reveal the bridge of the Enterprise, I gasp.
The bridge is a nearly-perfect replica of ours, with a few minor differences that are probably imperceptible to anyone who didn’t spend the better part of five years on it. The hum of the engines, which had only existed in my imagination on Stage 8, is now real. I stare at the view screen, where a beautiful starfield gives the appearance of motion. I remember how much I hated doing blue screen shots on the bridge and how much I loved it when they’d lower the starfield. When I looked at those thousands of tiny mirrors, glued onto a screen of black velvet, I could lose myself in the wonderful fantasy that this spaceship was as real as the view.
I am consumed by hypernostalgia.
I am 14-years-old, walking out of the turbolift during Encounter at Farpoint. Corey Allen, the director, excitedly tells me, “Picard controls the sky, man! He controls the sky!”
I am 15-years-old, sitting in my ugly grey spacesuit at the CONN. My fake muscle suit bunches up around my arms. I feel awkward and unsure, a child who desperately wants to be a man.
I am 16-years-old, working on an episode where I say little more than, “Aye, sir.” I want to be anywhere but here.
I am 17-years-old, wearing a security uniform for Yesterday’s Enterprise. I am excited to stand in a different place on the bridge, wear a different uniform, and push different imaginary buttons.
I hear the voices of our crew, recall the cool fog that hung around our trailers each morning from Autumn until Spring.
I recall walking to the Paramount commissary with the cast, on our way to have lunch meetings with Gene before he died.
I have an epiphany.
Until this moment, all I have been able to remember is the pain that came with Star Trek. I’d forgotten the joy.
It’s obviously an important place to me, though I don’t expect it be nearly as important to anyone else in the world. I’ve always said that it’s something every Star Trek fan should, uh, experience, at least once.
They say that the props and things from the museum will be returned to Paramount, where I hope they’ll be put on Star Trek: the Tour . . . though if past is prologue, Paramount will likely have them looked after by top men.
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I had no idea it even existed! And now it’s closing. Grrr.
Where exactly are marketing people when you need them?!
I would of loved to of seen it. 🙁
WHAT !?!?!
oh no !!!
so is it remaining open up until then
i think i need to make an emergency trip to vegas before its gone
its just terrible sad that “the dumbing down of americans” has made them unable to appreciate such an AWESOME show
i still watch the reruns of the original late nights
*sob sob*
Last year, when I went to the Big Honkin’ Trek Convention at the Hilton, I took the Backstage Tour at the Experience. It was very cool for a long time fan like me. Now I am very glad that I did it.
I enjoyed the Experience each time I visited. My wife and son and I might even try to make the trip out there to go through it one last time before it shuts down for good. I will be sorry to see it go, and I hope it finds a new home somewhere.
Star trek the experience was the major reason I consented to a Vegas wedding. My husband still laughs about having his hamborger replicated at Quarks. This is sad news. I have been told that Vegas is never the same. There is always stuff closing and opening. So it’s to be expected, I guess.
Alas.
I am a professional sand sculptor and competed in LV twice a few years back where they put us up in the Hilton. I LOVED being in the middle of all the StarTrek stuff and seeing Klingons wandering through Quark’s was truly a highlight of the trip.
It looked permanent to me and I always hoped the opportunity to return and do it again would arise.
How sad.
I’m glad I took advantage of the opportunity to experience the simulator in April while in Vegas for the PBS Technology Conference. It was fun walking on the Enterprise. I was one of those people who recognized some of the differences between this bridge and the one on the show. I’m sorry to see it go.
Nooooo
I have been to it twice and i loved it! But I never got to get completely drunk in Quark’s Bar! Somehow Vegas doesn’t seem like such a cool place anymore:(
Roadtrip! When I heard the Experience was closing, my brother and I immediately began planning a trip to Vegas. We only live 5-6 hours (by car) away so it will be a fun trip to relive old fan memories.
Have you thought of holding a sending-off party for the exhibit, sometime in August? I’d go.
I was sad to hear this was to close. I’m sure that many people, including me, will make the most of the experience at the Star Trek Convention next month.
There will be dark days ahead. Unless of course, Abrams can muster a comeback for the franchise.
🙁
That is very sad. I love that place! Gives me flashbacks too. Vegas will not be the same without it.
I wish they would stop getting rid of all the cool stuff. I am still mourning the death of pirates at Treasure Island.
I’m also sorry to see the exhibit close. I hated to see the similar one close at Universal Studios, but was privileged enough to have been through it a couple of times. Wish I could’ve shared the experience with my family.
My husband and I have gone several times – thanks to numerous visits to see our son who was an Executive Chef in Vegas before he moved on to bigger and better places…
I am truly sad to see it go as a Star Trek fan since the original. I have always thought I was born centuries too early and loved the feel of every part of the Experience…
I spent hours in the museum and my husband always indulged me. The rides were great but for me it was just the “feel” of the place when I was there. We also made several visits to Quarks with friends and family and have many memories of our laughter and fun with the characters in the bar.
As someone who has grown up in the IT world and EMT/nursing on the side, watching some of the ideas of ST become reality,(forms of bio beds, cell phones, and Blackberrys come to mind) it will always have cherished memories for me.
Wil!, you’ve known for MONTHS and didn’t tell us! I am so mad right now…Here I have been doing nothing all summer, till now, and the next 7 weeks are booked with events. I could of gone! Why didn’t you tell us sooner AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. why can’t they put it off till January, ugh… I feel sick right now…
Heather
The one time my husband and I had the chance to see it was on our honeymoon. We walked all the way to the Hilton from the Aladdin and bought tickets, only to be told it was broken and MIGHT be fixed a few hours.
The fact that they sold us tickets when it was indefinitely broken was infuriating. We left, never having gotten to see it. I’m still miffed about it to this day.
Oh man! I promised my oldest daughter I would take her there when she was 21! She won’t be 21 until after they close!
I always tease my bf about how much he loves the Star Trek Experience. He was so excited to take me on our first trip together to Vegas two years ago. I only went on the first ride because I got motion sickness. But the actors and sets were really cool. My bf loves going there on his annual Vegas trip – he’s introduced at least 4 new people to it in the past 2 yrs. 😀 He may not have seen your post, and I don’t want to tell him because he’ll be so sad. But we already had plans on going to Vegas after Comicon. Fitting, no?
…
We planned to go here for my brother’s 21st birthday in December.
He was going to have a drink at Quarks!
I’ll never get to go back. My favorite part of Vegas, and I don’t get to go back. Somebody hold me.
Damn, I really wanted to go to this place. I was in Vegas last year, but the group I was with wasn’t into Star Trek so I didn’t go. Now I guess I’ll never get to go:(
If anyone want to help we have a petition going around to help save the Experience or move it to a new location. Also you can emil the Hilton and let them know what you think. the links are below.
thanks
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savestartrekexp
http://www.lvhilton.com/contact/emailform-cc.php
Sorry about my spelling, I wrote it first thing in the morning. Please sign and forward to others. thanks
In what was arguably one of my more rash decisions, I responded to this news by immediately booking 2 plane tickets. My boyfriend and I, who are both huge fans, have talked about going for years, but have never made it out there from the east coast. We are now headed to the experience the first week of August. I’m so excited I can almost forget that it will be August in Vegas.
you know, i find that nostalgia is a very potent emotion. i can’t miss the eighties- i wasn’t there. yet i do. and this blog made me really resent the passage of time.
also, i just begged my mom to take me to vegas in early august.
i will not live my life without seeing this.
(i have about a 5% chance of going! =D)
Semi-OT to David Goodwin: “Now that I think about it, lots of people get to go back to the place they were married. I won’t.”
We were married in the Chapel Hill, NC, police station basement. (Neither of us had done anything wrong — that’s just where the magistrate was that afternoon.) So even some of us who can revisit the place we were married don’t necessarily opt to do so!
Hey crucislancer, I remember Dive – it was my favourite restaraunt in Vegas! I loved the periscopes all over the place that you could use to spy on other diners! God, I miss that place!
Anyway, back on topic…
I visited The Experience years ago (how long has it been open? I’m sure it was about 12 years ago I went…) I thoroughly enjoyed it. The best bit for me was the transporter bit – the first time I went on it, I was surprised, but said to myself “they just lifted the fake walls out of the way while the lights were out…”. So I went round again. This time, I made sure I was at the back of the queue for the “shuttle”, and made a quick mental note of how far away the walls were, including the door behind me. I knew this door couldn’t move, as we had been queueing up just the other side of it for ages. Anyway, long story short (too late!) we got “transported”. Yes the walls to the side had gone – I expected that – but I swear that the wall behind me, complete with the door that couldn’t possibly move, had moved back several feet! And unless my memory is playing tricks on me, the floor was different too!
How the hell did they do that?!?!
You know, it occurred to me that sometimes when you love something, you have to know when to let it go. I’m getting to a point where in the next couple of years my oldest daughter will be off to college. Her entire school experience has been a grooming process. Now a junior, she’s starting to spread her wings a little, looking for summer work, and failing because this is Michigan. But I keep her going, like a good coach. This past month when she asked, “If I get accepted to UC Berkely or NYU, will you let me go?” I had to think for moment, several long moments. “Yes.” I replied after about an hour. I had to think about how she conducts herself in school today and all of the life lessons I’ve tried to teach her and how to respond to different situations. So, I have to let her go and find her own place and discover her passions, whatever they may be.
Though this is rather long winded, there is a purpose. When I read about the Star Trek Experience closing and other things going on, it occurred to me that it was time for Berman and company to let it go and hand the reigns over to the next generation, so to speak.
They had a great run reviving the franchise in the 80’s and 90’s, but I say, if they love it as we do, then let it go, find some younger capable hands to put it in. Also, trust in their ability to take it “Where no man has gone before.” while still remaining true to the main theme Roddenberry originally laid out.
I think some Gen Xer’s, having been the really the first to be introduced to so many technologies at such a young age, and having some remembrance of life before all the tech., have a very unique perspective on technology, politics, and social issues as well. They labeled us “X” because we didn’t give a damn, they labeled us “X” because we were the lost generation, zoning in front of our 64’s, vic 20’s, apple II’s, 2600’s. We listened to weird music that ranged from Adam Ant, The Cure, Depeche Mode, to Black Flag, The Dead Kennedy’s, to Metallica and Slayer.
Now, and for the next several years we’re poised to start taking control of our own country and imparting our own uniqueness on our nation for the next 20 plus years. I think today is a great day to begin taking the reigns of the Star Trek franchise as well. Obviously we need a few good men, any idea’s Wil?
The Mrs. and I have had the chance to go to the Experience twice, including last year for the Big Honkin’ Convention, where we met Wil on a few occasions. I must say it’ll be sorely missed, unless they find a new home for it somewhere (How ’bout Montreal, home-town of WFS?)
One of the many highlights of our trip, was listening to the Enterprise Blues Band in the lounge above Quark’s Bar. What a night that was!
From the Comic-Con 2008 site on Thursday there is a pannel about Star Trek (see below):
6:00-7:00 Life, Death, Life of Star Trek— You’ve heard a lot of hype about sci-fi’s first franchise lately, now it’s time to see what it’s all about and celebrate an illustrious 40 years of boldly going with this regular panel of unpaid, uncensored Treksperts, who pay homage to Trek’s past and future with some special surprises and exclusive audio-visual treats you’ll only see here. Daren Dochterman (ST: TMP Director’s Cut Special Edition), Robert Meyer Burnett (Free Enterprise), Jeff Bond (The Music of Star Trek), and moderator Mark A. Altman (Free Enterprise) talk Trek like no one else can…or will. Hall H Room 2
This is only slightly off topic…but I just wanted to make sure you saw this video. I think you may get a kick out of it.
My heart was beating so fast when the turbolift door opened and I found myself on the bridge of the Enterprise, that I could barely hear.
It’s an amazing experience, and one that every fan should enjoy before it’s gone.
I’d heard a rumor earlier in the year that it was closing so Mr. angie k and I just went out to see it for the first and only time. I did not cry but I was kind of tempted to. Being on the bridge was the best part. While the two live cast members and video of Cmdr. Riker was trying to convince me that Klingons had stolen us from the 20th century all I did was stand by the turbolift and ghost in the TNG characters. It was very surreal to be there. And all I could think of was “Sponge Bob Vega$pants”. Walking down the corridors was a real treat, too.
I had a Starfleet salad at Quark’s and it was quite good.
P.S. The Experience seems to like Wesley. In Picard’s family album (from Generations) the museum display has it opened to a page that shows Picard’s award for some marathon and a picture of Picard and Wesley from “The First Duty”. In the Star Trek timeline the picture they use for Riker and Troi’s wedding is a version in which they do not crop you out. Also, the console that starts the movie on the bridge is located on “Wesley’s console” (as the backstage tour guide called it). It was cool.
Also, if anyone goes before it shuts down do the backstage tour. It’s awesome. Our guide, Lysander, showed us all the set design in-jokes and was truly having as good of a time as we were. Good stuff.
No wonder its really closing. I had tried to get a special event set up there. I had to leave messages for their events team 5 times before they would return my call. Were they just incompetant, or is there some corporate sabotage going on? Any business will fail if they behave like that.
Noooooooooooooo!!!!! I hadn’t gotten to go yet, and I might try to rally a trip before [smacks forehead at previous delay]!!
Pleas help to save the Experience. Please let these poeple know what you think and help to save the Experinece!
Anyone who thinks closing Star Trek the Experience is a shame, and wants to save it needs to contact Chad Boutte (operations manager, manager of marketing) at [email protected] or at (702)697-8717, and Russell Giles (media representative, operations lead) at [email protected], or at (702)6978717. Also, contact the Las Vegas Hilton at Las Vegas Hilton, atten. manager, 3000 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109. As for me, the Experience was the only reason to visit their hotel. Without it, there is no pull for me to return. Nothing else sets that hotel apart from the other large hotels on the Strip. If you feel the same way, tell them!! TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!!! We must contact Chad, Russell, and the Hilton NOW to save this. Fans saved the original series from going off the air decades ago. we can save this one too, but we must act now. Chuck
Also please contact Resorts International, owners of the Las Vegas Hilton at:
PR CONTACT:
Brian Cahill
Director, Public Relations
609-340-6432
[email protected]
Tell them that without the Experience, there is no reason for you to come to, or stay at the Las Vegas Hilton.
[email protected]
Also contact Cedar Fair, owners of Star Trek The Experience
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
Marketing Department
One Cedar Point Drive
Sandusky, Ohio 44870
[email protected]
Great. And, of course, my boss is talking about sending me to Vegas later that month… WHY COULDN’T THEY HAVE SCHEDULED THE CONFERENCE EARLIER????
That just plain sucks!! I’m stationed over here at Edwards AFB, CA and we’re only about three hours from Vegas. I’ve taken my four year old daughter to Quarks twice. The first time she got to meet a Klingon and the second time she got to meet a Borg. She LOVED it. When her grandparents would watch her so my wife and I could have a trip to Vegas alone we always enjoyed a LARGE Warpcore Breach. We’re going to really miss that place. I still haven’t experienced a convention yet because they always seem to happen the same time the Air Force has me going somewhere else. One of these days I’ll hit one!!
For those of you who are Warp Core Breach fans……
First use a 60 ounce Warp Core Bowl.
If you want the bubble effect you’ll need some dry ice.
Place a small amount of water 1 ounce on the bottom of the bowl and then pack it with ice (this will fuse the dry ice to the bottom of the bowl so it does not float to the top).
The receipt is as follows:
1 ounce Bacardi 151 Rum
3/4 ounce of Bacardi Limon
3/4 ounce of Bacardi Spice
3/4 ounce of Bacardi Select
3/4 ounce of Bacardi Light
1 ounce of Razzmatazz or a quality Raspberry Liqueur
15 ounces of high quality berry juice.
(Suggestions are Snapple Aceola Berry, Sobe Power or other energy or natural beverages but stay away from anything such as cranberry it’s to bitter)