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May. 14, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Experience Ending

Hilton Star Trek attraction may seek out new life elsewhere

By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Tracy Jackson on vacation from Los Angeles, poses for a photo Monday with a Ferengi at the entrance to Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. The show's contract with the hotel-casino expires at year's end.
Photo by John Gurzinski.

Operators of Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton might soon be telling Sin City, "Qapla'."

That's Klingon for goodbye.

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    • The lease on the biggest nerd magnet since the International Consumer Electronics Show expires at the end of the year, and a spokesperson for owners Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. told the Web site TrekMovie.com "there are currently no plans to renew" it.

    If Cedar Fair were to beam Experience out of the Hilton, it could mark the demise of a 10-year run that has made Las Vegas the center of the universe for fans of the seminal science fiction franchise.

    "It is very sad to see them go, because there is nothing else like it on the planet," said Paul Walker, "captain" of USS Las Vegas, a local Star Trek enthusiast club that meets monthly at Quark's Bar and Restaurant, which was named after a character in the television series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

    The Hilton is also home to The Official Star Trek Convention, an annual event that attracts thousands of fans.

    It isn't officially attached to Experience but benefits from its presence.

    Walker said he lived in Medford, Ore., in 1998 when Experience opened and, along with other members of a Star Trek club there, rode a bus to Las Vegas to see it in person.

    Walker later moved to Nevada and worked as a cashier at Experience from 2000 to 2001.

    The job not only indulged his Star Trek enthusiasm, it also introduced him to his future partner, who had worked at Experience since before it opened.

    "I was living a dream at the time," said Walker, 44.

    Lately, Walker said, crowds have been sparser and that some fans, called 'Trekkies,' are convinced the attraction has run its course at the Hilton.

    "This comes as no surprise to me," said one poster on a Star Trek Web site. "The Experience is long in the tooth as far as modern Vegas attractions go."

    Tickets to Experience cost $37.99 and buy access to two interactive rides that use film clips and sound to combine Star Trek fantasies with Las Vegas as a backdrop.

    In addition, there is a Star Trek museum called History of the Future that includes more than 200 items and is billed as the largest collection of Star Trek props and costumes in the world.

    Retail stores sell Star Trek T-shirts, action figures, costumes and artwork. Wedding packages from $350 to $3,000 are also available.

    The Experience also hires actors who wear elaborate costumes and depict different types of Star Trek "races" such as Klingons.

    Klingon warriors speak their own fictional language which has been picked up by some hard core fans and used in real-world interactions.

    The last major upgrade to the attraction was in 2004, when the Experience was under different owners and the Hilton was undergoing its own ownership change from Park Place to Colony Resorts LVH Acquisitions LLC., the current owners.

    Theme park company Cedar Fair got Experience in 2006 when it bought Paramount Parks, a spinoff of CBS, which still owns rights to the Star Trek television series.

    Cedar Fair's other properties include Knott's Berry Farm in California and theme parks in Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ontario.

    "Cedar Fair got a thing they really didn't know what to do with," Walker said.

    If officials at the Hilton and Cedar Fair are close to striking a deal to renew the attraction's run in Las Vegas, they aren't sharing it with fans.

    "At this point, again, absolutely no information is available to the public or to staff," said Chad Boutte, operations manager and marketing director for Experience.

    Although no Star Trek television series are in production, another movie is scheduled for release in 2009 which could spur interest in the attraction.

    "Our fans are still definitely coming to see us," Boutte said. "It has been a very exciting place."

    An official at Cedar Fair's Sandusky, Ohio, headquarters said only, "The contract with the Hilton expires at the end of December."

    Hilton spokesman Ira Sternberg said, "We will be more in a position to comment around June."

    Sternberg added, "That is closer to the time when either it is renewed or not renewed."

    TrekMovie.com editor-in-chief Anthony Pascale stopped short of saying Experience would bolt, but he said it didn't look good for Trekkies who make a pilgrimage to the Hilton as part of their Las Vegas vacations.

    "It is the premiere, and right now only, live Star Trek attraction in the world," Pascale said. "A lot of nerd weddings go on at that place."

    Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.

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    Shane wrote on May 14, 2009 07:21 PM: Its "Q'Apla!" and it means success. But I would be pretty upset if they closed this attraction, I never got to go. Last I heard, they are still there and won't be leaving anytime soon, theres some elaborate contract there.


    zoiep wrote on August 06, 2008 05:43 AM: I think if you need to pull out of the Hilton do so. There are plenty of other hotels in vegas that would probably love the Star Trek Experience. Just don't pull out of Vegas. That is such a perfect spot for you. Maybe find a spot on the strip. Much better location.


    Sarah wrote on July 04, 2008 02:59 PM: http://www.petitiononline.com/stte/petition.html


    Sarah wrote on July 04, 2008 02:57 PM: The ST Experience is the only reason I ever went to the Hilton...They're gonna be losing alot of money, not just the Hilton. The ST Experience & the convention bring in alot of us "nerds" and the Hilton isn't the only place our money goes.


    william mellott wrote on June 23, 2008 11:59 AM: "Qapla" stands for sucsess not for goodbye


    Adam wrote on June 13, 2008 02:59 PM: Matt, thanks for recommending the video! I just watched it and it brought back memories of my visit to the Experience last year--backstage tour and all. I'll be sad to see this go.


    Matt wrote on June 13, 2008 02:38 PM: It would be sad to see this one go. Did you know that there's a video of "Star Trek: The Experience" on the LVRJ's website? It's pretty cool. Just click on the "Multimedia" tab at the top of the page, then scroll down to "The Vegas Show." They have a lot of cool stuff.


    Edward Dijeau wrote on June 04, 2008 11:45 PM: The Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton and the Star Trek Convention in August (not the unbearable Summer Heat) are the only reasons I Drive from the Pleasantly Cool San Francisco Bay Area to scortching Las Vegas Each Year. If I want to gamble or see a Show, I would just go to RENO. Our Favorite Meal in Vegas is the "Flaming Ribs of Targ" (What they call the Rack of pork ribs with coriander pesto and Flaming 151 Rum) at Quarks Bar at the Experience. Close the Experiance or cancel the Star Trek Convention and we will be "History" to Vegas Also. All the other Star Trek Conventions around the country have gotten smaller but the Vegas Convention has gotten larger Because of the Hilton Hospitality and the Star trek experiance that has been there before, durring and after the Convention Hours or events. Even the Actors who played the parts in the Many Star Trek Shows or Movies like to come because of the Full sets of the Enterprise Bridge and Quarks Bar to remember the great time they had re-creating the dreams of Gene Roddenberry. Once it is gone, They will not Come. In a sence, It is the "Field of Dreams" for the Trekies who are todays Dreamers of dreams and future inovators. When they built it, They all Came. When it is gone, Where will they Go???


    jen wrote on June 02, 2008 12:02 AM: No they can't take this yet! Damn it i haven't gotten to go there yet WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    DiamondDave wrote on May 30, 2008 10:28 AM: Mike, you are the winner of this thread! I've been saying what you said for a few years now - about the time they tore the moving walkways into Caesar's down and took away the emerald green. Of course, that's when single owners started snapping up casino-resorts and everything began to be owned by the same corporations. I'm sure the Hilton will spend a few million dollars for a megaclub that I won't go near. As far as the Luxor, I heard it from a very reliable source that MGM-Mirage has plans to remove the Sphinx-head from the front and change the name to "The Pyramid." I never went to ST:TE, but I don't support the removal of it. It's very difficult to find something you really like as a consumer, and for things to keep being torn down (Games of the Gods, IMAX, Caesar's Olympic Casino) is tough on the tourists who made Las Vegas what it is. I wish I could turn the clock back to 1998, when everything was nearly perfect for me there. But, I'm being idealistic. The fun that was Las Vegas is going, going, almost gone. As are my tourist dollars. Keep building those trendy mega-resorts. Me and my money will just go back to vacationing in Florida. Las Vegas had a boarded-up El Rancho for many years. Can you imagine a boarded up Echelon??


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