I can understand the massive overheads of running the rides and the museum, but I'm not sure why Quark's itself couldn't have just continued at the Hilton, or somewhere else
this is a good point. If they kept the bar and the souvenir shop they would still attract fans. As it is, I'm not even sure what the Hilton has there anymore. I haven't gone there since there is no reason to go to that hotel now that quarks is gone .
As an avid fan of STTE, as I recall, the issue was a political one rather than financial.
- STTE was originally operated as part of Paramount Parks when it opened in 1998.
- In 2006 Cedar Fair purchased all of Paramount Parks, including STTE.
- In 2008 the 10 year contract with STTE and the LVH was up for renewal.
- Cedar Fair and LVH were unable to agree on new terms to extend the contract.
- In 2010 Cedar Fair lost the rights to re-open a Star Trek themed attraction.
I think there are two keys as to why STTE was ultimately closed:
1) It's believed that when Cedar Fair purchased Paramount Parks, they were largely interested in the
other properties, since their main focus is in theme parks and roller coasters. STTE was really just collateral in their purchase and they weren't really sure how to manage it.
2) LVH was looking to use the space for another attraction. The rumors at the time were a large arcade-type attraction, or the more common rumor was a Michael Jackson show, which seems plausible given his relaunching a tour in 2009 before his passing.
The officially stated reason for closing was due to declining attendance, first rumored in Feb 2008 and officially announced in July. I'm sure this was a factor, since the Star Trek franchise had been at a lull for several years by 2008 and the JJ Treks were in the works, the future of the original shows and movies were uncertain. That said, I've also heard that despite the lack of new content and reaching 10 years of operation, STTE continued to have a decent attendance and events such as the Vegas Convention and special events they'd hold made up for the off-season slump every attraction experiences.
Ultimately I think STTE was closed due to the main two companies involved being disinterested in STTE and the Star Trek franchise as a whole. CF saw STTE as a risk. LVH saw it as consuming valuable real estate. So they closed the attraction, which eventually lead to CBS selling off the assets.
A lot of this is hearsay and rumors, so take it with a grain of salt.
I'd been wanting to go to it for decades, and was disappointed that by the time I finally got Stateside, it had only been closed for a couple years. I think that's what upset me the most: that I'd only missed it by such a small margin.
