Q:
It’s been a few months since we heard about Star Trek: The Experience moving to downtown Vegas. Any new info for us Trekkies?
A:
As of the time of this writing (early January), it was unclear whether the owners of "Star Trek: The Experience" had finished loading the massive attraction of out its former home, the Las Vegas Hilton. It was supposed to have left the building by Jan. 1, but we’re talking some pretty massive infrastructure here. While the fate of the sets was initially unclear (former owner Cedar Fair had no plans for them), it turns out that downtown mall Neonopolis bought them lock, stock, and warp core, and is currently storing them offsite.
Although published descriptions of how ST:TE would be integrated into Neonopolis have been rather vague, a few items recur: It would be a phased-in reopening and would include an equivalent to Quark’s Bar, a favorite hangout for Trekkies during the annual Star Trek convention. Even Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the forthcoming Star Trek movie, has broken bread at Quark’s.
The Las Vegas Sun’s John Katsilometes asked Mayor Oscar Goodman about the status of ST:TE’s mooted move to Neonopolis and was told the following: "I spoke to CBS and they have licensing to Star Trek, and they really believe it’s going to happen down there … Scott Adams, our business development director, went back to New York and spoke to the same people I did who came out to Las Vegas, and I know the attorney who represents CBS on licensing from Philadelphia, knew her family from the old days, and it’s the real deal."
Still, Oscar’s words don’t quite have the ring of finality, do they? So we rang up Adams, who couldn’t have been more helpful –- or enthusiastic –- about the project. He told us, "CBS has heightened interest in seeing [ST:TE] reopen in Neonopolis" once the new film, directed by J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost) is out. Adams expects the first of two phases of a reworked ST:TE to open in the fall, starting with bars and gift shops.
Phase two, as planned, is the exciting part, as it will add an IMAX theater to the motion-simulator rides that were already part of ST:TE. Because of the required infrastructure for those components –- and the tens of millions of dollars it will cost to install them –- it’s unclear how long it will be before they open. "You’ve got to make huge improvements to accommodate those kind of things," Adams says. The city, for its part, will provide 150 additional free parking spaces for ST:TE employees.
"I didn’t realize how big Star Trek was until I talked to the CBS people," Adams continues, explained that it constitutes the largest of three divisions and "is like a third of their business in intellectual property. … It’s bigger than all their [other] TV put together." Small wonder that CBS/Paramount has been the one partner in the Hilton’s ST:TE that has consistently pushed to keep some iteration of The Experience alive in Vegas.
It just took me right back, especially standing underneath Voyager!
They could at least open the restaurant or something...
