This American Ambassador drove to Las Vegas, the desert Oasis only 5 1/2 hours
away, owned by most of the Mafia (sorry, Cosa Nostra) to spend a weekend doing
some silicone research for your editor, as well as satisfy my mild TREKKER
obsession and take in the new STAR TREK EXPERIENCE at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Firstly I would like to say that it was slightly relieving to be staying at
the Las Vegas Hilton, not only cause I got a smokin' room rate of $49 per
night, not only cause the LV Hilton is a really pretty and clean place, still
a classic casino and maintained beautifully, but also, the LV Hilton is a
little off the beaten path, away from the main strip on Las Vegas Blvd. LV
Hilton is on Paradise Road and Riviera.. a little ways north of the
STRATOSPHERE hotel, so there is not too much vehicle traffic on that street..
I had gone through such a serious ass traffic jam on my way there, because the
sun was just going down and the BIG HOTELS had just put their lights on, so I
wanted to see the strip at night.. The Pyramid shaped LUXOR, the cartoonly
royal EXCALIBUR, the stately NEW YORK, NEW YORK with it's miniaturized (yet
still HUGE) New York city skyline including the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney
Island Amusement Park outside..etc...etc..BIG MISTAKE, especially after you've
been driving with the sun in your eyes for the last 6 hours and your head was
pounding... Traffic was at a virtual stand-still with everyone and their
mother doing the exact same thing I was doing.. LOOKING AT THE LIGHTS. - Many facets make the STAR TREK EXPERIENCE complete. All the foreplay goes
into action here.. You are bombarded with visuals, the likes of which start
your sci fi juices flowing, you begin drooling as you walk past the front desk
(after receiving my room key - which is a magnetic strip containing a STAR
TREK SCENE - as if they think I am gonna return that key to them!) and find
yourself inside the SPACEQUEST Casino.. where the slot machines work if you
interrupt a light beam with your hand.. motion sensors! It's all very techno,
silver and space like. Including all the music piped in. It's either Jan
Hammer (Beyond the Minds Eye) or other out-worldly type tunes.. As you leave
the SPACEQUEST CASINO you encounter the SCI-FI ZONE a gift shop containing all
manner of really cool things you positively cannot live without. I found
LUNAR PHASIC CLOCKS, ALIEN AUTOPSY - THE BOARD GAME, GALILEAN THERMOMETERS,
GLOW IN THE DARK EVERYTHING and of course, STAR TREK MEMORABILIA including
Barbie and Ken dressed as original cast Star Trek personnel.
Stepped up to the ticket booth and bought my ticket - $15.00 gets you inside
the STAR TREK EXPERIENCE.. However, the Promenade Retail Shops (recreated from
the Promenade at Deep Space 9) and QUARK'S BAR are free to roam and gawk at,
but I shall share them with you in a moment.
For $15.00 you are allowed as much time as you need to gaze, wonder, learn and
absorb a TIME LINE that starts with Galileo and ends with the destruction of
the BORG in the 25th century, including graphics, video clips from all the tv
shows, movies and spin-offs involved with STAR TREK. That is one side.. on
the other side, you are also allowed as much time as you will ever need to
look at, read about and study intricately almost hands-on all the clothing,
weapons, scanning instruments, accessories and last-minute built weapons and
problem solvers also from all the tv shows, movies, and spin-offs associated
with the show.
The mistake that most people made, I noticed, is that they were in such a
hurry to get on the actual ride that they by-passed all this universe of
information, memorabilia, technology described not in a *prop* sense, but in a
very real scenario... how it was designed, what it's use was for and why...
not why they needed it for this episode, but why it was necessary for the
Federation or for this planet or this species' survival... I found the
summaries for every item fascinating in themselves. A lot of love went into
the archival treatment of all the objects.
The ride? I would like to say what it was about, but about 50 million
TREKKERS who didn't see it, and even some who did, would probably seek me out
and vaporize me with a phaser on *10*. Let's just say that the EXPERIENCE is
just that. Interesting, amusing, exciting, nostalgic, and more fun than the
DeLorean at Universal (I'll say no more). *Wow* is one of the adjectives you
would use at many of the turns before the actual ride itself... The actual ride
itself is turbulent, and fun, and depending on who is riding the shuttle, may
be a cheering, screaming gas... but all in all... a true experience that you
will remember.
Upon leaving the EXPERIENCE, one is escorted into the PROMENADE... a
recreation of the Promenade on Deep Space Nine, with shops selling everything
STAR TREK, Bajoran photographers ready to take your photo and *morph* it into
a picture with other STAR TREK characters in it with you, clothing shops ready
to tailor you, collectibles shops that sell everything from shot glasses to
the actual CAPTAIN'S CHAIR on the original tv series. There are also neat
working gadgets all over the PROMENADE that allow you to play them. For
example a working *Replicator*, a DATA ACCESS COMPUTER port just like the ones
on the ENTERPRISE BRIDGE, giving you complete personnel information on all the
characters.
Sitting at QUARK'S BAR gives one the sense that one is indeed on a space
station with all it's furniture and glassware of the future. This American
Ambassador had, at the suggestion of someone she thought was her friend, a
drink entitled *WARP CORE BREACH*, served in something the size of a kitchen
sink with two straws in it.. Apparently seven different types of liquors mixed
with several juices.. a sort of Otherworldly Long Island Iced Tea. Let's just
say that I was lucky to be staying at the same hotel I drank said drink at.
Crawling seemed to be the only option afterwards.
Before I close I want to say that the biggest *WOW* issued from this
Ambassador's mouth came as I happened to look up whilst sitting at my table
(and BEFORE my drink came, thank you) and saw that on the very very high
ceilings there was an entire universe of stars and several Federation and Non
Federation Vessels floating there. The models were huge and lit up.. I was
breathless. I must've looked like a complete fool staring up at the ceiling
for twenty minutes like that. My neck is still throbbing and I can't get the
drool stains out of my shirt.....
Do I recommend the STAR TREK EXPERIENCE?? I think so...
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