An adventure at Star Trek, The Experience
at the Hilton, in Las Vegas NV...
As with anything here in Vegas, theaters, arcades, etc. You have to go into a casino to get to the thing you really want. But in this case you barely have to enter the corner of the casino. (To get to the theater we have been using, you have to walk all the way to the back of a large casino. People under 21 are not allowed on the casino floor, unless an adult is moving them through it toward something else - not stopping - then it is allowed. However, what kinds of stuff the kids might see as they move through can be quite ..er revealing...)
Now, I am not an official trekkie I don't think. But I do like Star Trek. I haven't seen every episode, I didn't collect any stuff and I know no trivia, but I do like the whole shmeel. At one time in my life I would have liked to be a trekkie, but I never could measure up to the dedication of a true trekkie.. From my childhood I wanted to be a make-up artist for aliens, making latex pieces... so that is mainly what appeals to me.. although I do like special effects also.
The first thing I noticed here at STTE, was that almost everyone that visits this place looks really "serious", as though they want everyone to know that they are not "in" to Star Trek... except for just a couple of exceptions.
No, I am serious. It first happened when we went into the place.. We went up to the ticket guy to show him our tickets and he finally looked up into my face, and was noticably SHOCKED that I was 1) looking him in the eye, and 2) smiling. I think it shook him up. He looked over at Gwen, smiled a big smile, talked in a surprised kind of way, stamped our hands and let us enter. I got the feeling he is used to people being embarrassed and refusing to look at him..
The opening to STTE, on the left go down to Quark's Bar and Grill and the gift shop, or on the right go through the ticket area.
Looking up is pretty neat.. these are fairly large ships overhead and it makes for a nice flavor to the whole place.
First you walk through the museum area, and along the right wall is museum stuff....
...and along the left wall is a timeline of all things Star Trek. It merges all the star treks into one timeline, so it is funny to see things you never hear about, like when an older Star Trek is airing a certain episode, a character from a newer Star Trek is just graduating from "The Academy"... this wall is very long, wrapping around corners and there are TV screens that air certain parts all over the place.. The left wall is vertically short, I bent down to take this pic.. making the place more open - letting you see Quark's Bar... and out to the casino..
Here is an interesting museum piece. Some kind of hard model for the characters it represents. I liked this guy.
Ah the miracle of modern plastic surgery.. he doesn't look a day over 400..
Gwen, get in there and pose with him... "why?" awww come on just do it... hehehe
Around the corner is a Mark IV Photon Torpedo. You can touch it and everything. Fabulous!
So we made our way around the museum and found ourselves at a double lineup, on the left, line up for The Borg Invasion, or on the right, the Klingon ride. There were people on the left, so we went left, figuring it would start soon. Along the walls here, more artifacts and stuff, in the window here are Borg watchig us, one moves his head, their lights blink.. I love this stuff..... I have to admit... TV's are everywhere, with clips from shows, trivia questions, etc.
One guy up ahead thinks he is a real clown and keeps trying to be funny, and is being loud.. and not many in his own group are laughing..
But then an Andorian female sauntered by and talked smack to him.. HA! I was not ready with the camera in time, but caught a shot of her backside. Now... Andorian men can be quite stiff, but this woman had wiggle, I tell ya! Talk about walking with attitude! Hmm I wonder is an Andorian from Andoria, or from Andor.. Probably Andor... The trivia questions on the TV's were starting to take me to trivial places... ack!
The Borg Invasion was AWESOME. I told Gwen we had to go again! It had live actors, Borg after us, guys shooting at stuff, a guy was whisked up into the ceiling by a Borg arm, then you get into a shuttle craft and put on your eye safety gear (3d glasses) and watch the Borg take over the ship.... it was great! (can I work here?) - but no photos allowed...
Afterwards we found this handsome fellow and had to have our pic with him. This guy stars in my least favorite episode of all time.. The fight scene that never ends; the fight scene between Captain James T. Kirk and this guy that makes you want to shoot yourself in the head... but he is good for a photo op!
Then we went into Quark's bar and had some Coconut shrimp and a shake.. Then decided to go see if the Klingon ride was about to begin.
I took a few more pics of displays.. and we got back in line. This was a big display of klingon weaponry and costumes, but I got lazy and only took this.
There was a Klingon that walked by at this point.. He walked by, I decided not to take a pic of another alien backside, then a bit later he came by the other way, looking at people as he came by, and a lady about 5 people down asked him if the ride was about to start. He stopped and chatted with her. Then I guess he had noticed that Gwen didn't look at him (I mean it is a little embarrassing for some reason), so he walked slowly back, stopped right in front of her, and kind of clicked his staff on the floor. She looked right at him, broke into a smile, and then he was satisfied, looked at me, and walked on. It was pretty funny. I wanted to get a pic with him, but was too chicken... cripes!
These sisters are two of my favorite characters. At one time, Gwen and I were going to make costumes like this for halloween or to go to a Star Trek convention, or maybe just to the mall on a Saturday afternoon... hehehe.. but we never got around to it. We had bought a few pieces to begin with, but had not enough moola to go for it.
The Klingon ride ended up being broken, and they were not sure if it would be fixed in 5 minutes or an hour, or never. Then the Borg Invasion began again, we had already waited quite a bit for the Klingon thing with no promise of a definite fix.. so we hopped the divider and went on the Borg ride again. The actors switched places, so the person who was "herding" us around last time was a new person, etc. The actors were great. It was fun.
I would definitely go again. With more courage to talk to the actors walking around.
If we stay in Vegas, I will!