Star Trek: The Experience - Las Vegas
This review is an update based upon an October 1999 visit.
Click here for a full review based upon my October 1998 visit.
I arrived at Star Trek The Experience hoping that the problems associated with my visit last year were just a fluke. Unfortunately, things started off poorly. It seems that on the day we arrived, the simulator ride had been closed all day and was not expected to reopen that day. So, I figured I would at least go spend some money in the gift shop. I was partially successful in this endevor, but would have been more so if they had actually had shirts in my size. Of the four shirts I liked, none were available in either a Large or Extra Large size. (Tip to the purchasing department, it's hard to sell products if you don't have the common sizes available.) Anyway, after shopping, we figured we would go and check out the SpaceQuest Casino. I was happy to see that they had put the gaming tables that were missing last year back into the casino this year. Unfortunately, there were not any employees working the tables. This was probably due to the fact that the casino was fairly empty. I was also happy to see that the slot machines which you pass you hand through a beam of light to spin the wheels were in place although a few of the ones I tried did not work properly. Also, the video screens which showed the space scenes through the upper windows were still not working. In fact, the one employee I asked about them did not even realize that they opened. So, with that, we left to come back another day.
Two days later, I called to make sure that the ride had reopened and was assured that it had. Upon being assured that it had, we drove back over there. We paid our admission and went through the museum. I did not notice any changes here. It would have been nice if they rotated the collection of props so that there would be something new to see. Also, I did not notice any changes to reflect the past year. Perhaps a change of the cast photo to reflect the new Dax and some props from Insurrection could be added. Also, there was one Ferengi and Klingon wandering through the line. Speaking of the line, there were maybe 50 people in front of us in the line for the ride. Although the announcer kept saying that we would board momentarily, it took over a half hour before we boarded the ride. This was magnified by the fact that the video on the screen by which we were waiting for most of this time looped at least 8 times while we were standing there. Hearing the same thing over and over again gets annoying quickly.
Finally, on to the ride. All of the things I found implausible about it last year were still there along with the addition of the fact that many of the new hotels which were built in the last year, namely Paris, Belagio, and the Venetian, were not there. I assume of course that those dasterdly Klingons destroyed them all.
Since we found that the restaurant was nothing spectacular last year, we decided to skip it. After all this is Vegas and why eat a burger and fries when you can eat prime rib and shrimp for the same price.