Star Trek: The Experience
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Star Trek: The Experience is a themed attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, based on the fictional Star Trek universe. It opened in January 1998 and has been a certerpiece of the Vegas Hilton since that time.
The Experience is composed of a restaurant (Quark's Bar and Restaurant) modeled after the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine eatery, a Trek shoping arcade, a Trek museum, two Trek "experiences" and a backstage tour. The facility also hosts Star Trek themed weddings.
The Experience is adjacent to the Hilton's casino which was remodeled for the Experience's opening as a space station called [Quest] and included high tech versions of casino table games. Sometime prior to 2007 it was remodeled back to a more typical casino.
To date the Experience has undergone one major renovation, re-opening 18 March, 2004. The renovation added the "Borg Invasion 4-D" ride, which uses state-of-the-art technology to simulate an encounter with the Borg (Krutzler, 2004). Star Trek: The Experience is operated by entertainment management company Cedar Fair Entertainment Company after its June 2006 purchase of Paramount Parks from the CBS Corporation.[1]
The History of the Future Museum
Admission to the museum requires a ticket to either the Klingon Encounter or Borg Invasion 4-D. It features a timeline of Star Trek events presented as an actual historical timeline. On display are large-scale starships as well as props and costumes from Star Trek history including the Trek films and all five live action TV series. There are also displays of many alien races, includes the Borg, Klingons, and Ferengi.
The final section of the museum is the hallway that serves as the shared waiting area for the Borg Invasion 4-D, as well as the Klingon Encounter.
The Klingon Encounter
Both experiences, Klingon and Borg, invite the visitors to undergo the willing suspension of disbelief and participate in a Trek-themed adventure. This is accomplished through the use of costumed actors, video & audio participation of Trek series cast members (for the Klingon Encounter: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes and LeVar Burton), misdirection, state of the art props & sets, and a faithful reproduction of many things Trek.
In the Klingon Encounter, the suspension of disbelief is accomplished by a very startling and amazingly performed ‘beaming’ of the participants from one location to another. This comes complete with the usual Trek transporter sound & visual effects -- and is very convincing. One moment everyone is standing in a standard, small waiting room, interacting with the accompanying Experience staff and watching a prep-video on how to use seatbelts properly on the Trek simulator ride. Then ‘it’ happens… almost instantly everyone is in a totally different environment. They appear to be in a very much larger and futuristic room -- the main Transporter chamber of a Federation starship, the USS Enterprise-D. The effect is enhanced by the Enterprise’s uniformed crew interacting with the visitors, including an on-screen appearance by the ship’s first officer (Commander William Riker) where he explains to the stunned visitors what just happened.
Common expressions of the visitors include delight and confusion. Was that a clever magic trick, or did something real just happen? This offers the participants the ability to willingly suspend disbelief and more easily play along with the role-playing actors.
(Details of how this astonishing magic act is accomplished are shared on the Experience backstage tour -- complete with a special lights-on demonstration. Those who learn the secret are asked to keep this confidential so as to not ruin the experience for those who would rather not know.)
As to why this beaming occurred: It is explained that the Enterprise just foiled a Klingon revenge plot against Picard, the Enterprise’s captain. A Klingon ship had time traveled to Vegas and was about to assassinate one of Picard’s ancestors thereby erasing the Captain from existence. The just-in time rescue entailed beaming the anonymous ancestor (it could be anyone in the group!) through a vast distance and through hundreds of years, to the safety of the Enterprise.
The safety turns out to be fleeting as the angry Klingons have followed their target and attack the Enterprise to fulfill their plan. This plot twist gives the visitors the chance to experience a Federation starship and her crew in the heat of battle.
The group is escorted by crew out of the transporter chamber and through the ship giving everyone the chance to experience a turbolift in free fall, the busy bridge of the Enterprise, and a wild shuttlepod flight (via a state of the art simulator ride) through time and space back to the current-day Vegas Hilton (being chased by the Klingon warship the entire way).
Of note: originally two Klingon Encounters were run in a stagered-parallel fashion. This was accomplished by creating duplicates of some portions of the Encounter, and sharing the (larger) portions by timeshifting the groups passing through them. With the introduction of the Borg Invasion, the second Klingon Encounter set elements were converted to become part of the Borg attraction.
The Borg Invasion 4-D
(Note that because this attraction features live performers, the exact experience will be somewhat different every time.)
This ride takes groups of about forty people at a time. They enter a Starfleet science station room that has a large viewscreen in the front beyond a podium upon which several Starfleet personnel stand. There is also a Starfleet officer on the opposite side of the room. On the screen, the holographic doctor from the USS Voyager appears and greets the group. He explains that the group has been selected to undergo medical testing because some of the members are immune to Borg nanotechnology (which he "detected" when the group entered the room). In the middle of his presentation to the guests, the Doctor is interrupted by one of the station administrators. She says that they've detected a ship approaching the station at high warp. Since it doesn't respond to communications, the station goes to yellow alert (as you see the lights dim around you.) The administrator says that they will postpone the medical testing until this possible threat is dealt with.
When the tactical officer of the station has a visual, the administrator says, "Let's see it." Lo and behold, in all its grim glory, it is a full size Borg Cube that slowly and ominously approaches the station. The officers in the room and the Doctor all share the same grim expression, knowing that difficult times are ahead. The station goes to Red Alert (with the lights around you now flashing red) and the administrator orders to open fire on the cube, as you feel the ground shake beneath you and as you hear phasers and quantum torpedoes thunderously leave the station. The Cube looks to sustain heavy damage, but it fires a projectile, and all the lights go dark, not before hearing a large amount of static. Then, all speaking as one, the Borg speak. "We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is Futile."
The viewscreen comes back online, and the Doctor checks in with a young security officer. When the Doctor asks if he's alright, the officer says, "For now. There's an extraordinary amount of damage down here. Sir, the Borg have entered the facility. The station's being overrun." The Doctor then tells all the guests to get to the nearest escape shuttle while there's still time. As he is about to end the transmission, you see a group of Drones enter behind him. The Doctor proceeds to fire a phaser, and you see one of the medical technicians injected with Borg nanites as his skin turns white, and his veins turn black. A security officer enters the room, and leads the group to the next room: a corridor that looks severely damaged.
As the group is in the corridor, a Borg drone appears to move toward the group, but turns instead to examine a computer panel. The security officer explains that he poses no threat at the moment, and orders the first officer to hold fire. The group is then led to the opposite end of the room, to an officer at an elevated station. This officer warns the others that there are Borg on the catwalks overhead (though visitors can see only conduits in the ceiling, there is indeed a Borg drone visible overhead from where the officer is standing). Firing a phaser rifle into the ceiling neutralizes the threat of that drone, but now alerts the remaining drones to attack. The officer at the elevated station proceeds to try and open the next door, but instead has to shoot out the control panel, as the drone that was examining the computer console moves toward the group. Unfortunately, destroying the panel has only opened the door halfway. At that moment, the officer with the phaser rifle is grabbed from above by a drone (only its hand is visible) and dragged screaming through the ceiling above. The first officer you met is now attempting to force the door entirely open, while the security officer tries to hold off the approaching drone with a hand phaser. The beam that he fires hits the drone, but with no effect: they have adapted their protective shields. At long last, the door is opened and the group is ushered through.
The group then enters a room that purports to be an escape vessel. Everyone picks up 3-D goggles ("safety glasses") and sits down. While the shuttle is preparing to take off, guests can watch the security officer be grabbed by the drone and dragged away for assimilation. The shuttle takes off from the station, but is pulled inside the Borg Cube. The front of the shuttle is blown open (utilizing 3d effects) and small Borg probes enter the shuttle and spray the group with nanites. You feel them in your skin (by way of motion prods under your seats) as the Borg Queen appears. She begins lecturing about the perfection of the collective and tells you to surrender your inhibitions and join the hive mind. At that moment, the Doctor projects himself into the hallucination, telling the group to fight it. "You are resistant to assimilation! Fight it! We're coming for you, Help is on the..." He then cuts out. The group, now out of the hallucination, listens to The Queen as she reiterates the futility of resisting her power. Then, another communication enters the ship and a female voice says, "Maybe it's time we even the sides." The Queen looks abashed. "Janeway!" She screams.
Admiral Kathryn Janeway appears on two side viewscreens as we see the USS Voyager burst through the far side of the Cube as the shuttle's force field activates around the blown off area of the front. Janeway exchanges quips with the Queen. "Stand aside, I've come to take these people home." "You're a fool Janeway, there will always be more drones!" The Queen yells. "Soon, this ship, and everything in it will be destroyed!" "Don't bet on it." Janeway says, as Voyager fires phasers on the Queen's position. She appears to beam out before she could be destroyed. Janeway then orders, "Fire Quantum Torpedoes!" Voyager obliges, and leaves the cube in shambles as she locks her tractor beam on the groups shuttle, and we are then treated to the magnificent explosion of the Borg Cube as it is defeated by the Federation.
As the shuttle docks back at the original station, Janeway says to the group, and we quote, "Congratulations. You've defeated the Borg with one thing the Queen can never assimilate: the human spirit. As long as we have that, resistance will never be futile." The theme to the Voyager television show then plays, and you are directed to exit at your right.
Effects include droplets of water, wind bursts, minor motion, and jabbing of the occupants—in the back and under the legs—through their chairs. (Though mild, the sensation can be startling.)
Backstage Tour
A special tour is available for visitors on a limited basis. Unlike admission to Klingon Encounter and Borg 4D, the number of tours on a given day is small and may require advanced registration.
The tour takes visitors through some of the Klingon Encounter and Borg sets, plus backstage areas like wardrobe and makeup. Visitors are free to ask their guide questions and explore sets like the USS Enterprise-D replica bridge and Transporter chamber used in the Klingon Encounter.
Details of the beaming to the Transporter chamber are shared -- complete with a special lights-on demonstration. Tour members are asked to keep this confidential so as to not ruin the magic for those who would rather not know.
Photography isn't allowed on the tour, but visitors can sign a guestbook and get a certificate after the tour is over.
Reduced hours
The hours for the ride have suffered some fluctuations in recent years. According to the staff, the ride and museum continue to be popular, but the decision to reduce the hours came from Paramount Parks. During the off-season, the rides operate from 12:00 noon until 8:30, with Borg Invasion and Klingon Encounter performances switching back and forth for an hour at a time (with a few hours of simultaneous operation at the beginning and end of the day). During the Summer season, both rides operate simultaneously until 10:30pm (last ride starting at 10:10pm).
References
- Krutzler, S. (2004). Vegas Borg Invasion date set, plus console game Shattered Universe finally arriving. Retrieved January 11, 2004 from http://trekweb.com/articles/2004/01/11/4001568b3063b.shtml