Las Vegas, Day 6: Goodbye to Star Trek: The Experience

Today we said goodbye to our 11-year love affair with Star Trek: The Experience. The entire thing disappears on September 1st. They couldn't even wait for the release of the new movie.

Along one entire wall, on the far side (left) as you enter the Promenade area, people left heartfelt messages about ST:TE, about how they'll miss the place, about how their world won't be the same. It was certainly very sad.

The line to get into the rides was pretty long this morning. We bought a regular ticket, which gave us access to both the Klingon and Borg rides for the entire day, and immediately started going down the timeline trail, past the museum pieces and into the Borg line at the end.

We had originally planned to go out to other casinos, and we didn't make it. We ended up riding the Borg ride three times, and the Klingon ride one-and-a-half times, and staying mostly right around The Experience. The Klingon Encounter broke down at the beginning of the day and delayed several people. When we eventually made it on, after waiting about 45 minutes, we were stuck on the bridge. But we enjoyed that, because they let us roam on the bridge, sit in the captain's chair, etc.

We kidded later that all the signs say each ride is 18 minutes long. They don't count the hour it takes to get on the ride. And that went for each ride.

At one point we were in the Borg line and saw Max Grodenchick halfway down in the Klingon Encounter. We said, Hi, Max! and told him that the Klingon ride had broken down -- we just got off it and were told we'd be first in line for the next one. He looked forlorn and said, "You mean, we're standing in line for nothing?" We assured him he'd make it, and wished him luck.


We had our last meal at Quark's Bar, in the bar itself, a fact I've already mentioned. While we were in the bar, a fully dressed, 7-foot tall Klingon grabbed one of the patron's Romulan ale bottles and walked off with it. They were laughing... until he came back and said through the door, "What are they going to do, fire me?" and then they roared!

We went back at about 6 pm for one last "meal" at Quark's Restaurant -- dessert and drinks -- and insisted on sitting up on the raised portion of the restaurant so that we could see the T.V. screens and the wedding party that was in there. We watched everyone being pulled around us as they would take anything available. Finally, after an hour, we were shown in. We split the Nog's chocolate obsession, which was warm cake with chocolate ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. And I had an Arcturian Fizz, an interesting red rum drink, and a nonalcoholic Data's Day after that. Debbie had her Ractajino.

The amount of merchandise in the shops was going lower and lower in quantity every time we glanced in, as patrons took everything that wasn't nailed down. Debbie took photos of as much of the Promenade, and the timeline upstairs, as possible. As sad as we both are to see it end, I think she's taking it personally.

I saw one patron looking at his menu in the ride line later, a menu that he lifted from the restaurant. And I'm sure other patrons were doing the same with, again, everything that wasn't nailed down.

After we left the Star Trek place, I immediately went to the Star Trek game. I put money in, logged on as Uhura, and checked my medals and rank. I had 37 medals (3 short of the next level), and I was an Ensign. I wanted to reach the next level before I left, but at what price?

By the time I finished with my machine, I had been promoted to LTjg, had 42 medals, and had won $45. I enjoyed playing briefly at the next level, and experienced both bonus rounds. The woman next to us, however, was playing 280 pennies for each pull of the slot machine, which is the maximum. And she had put in $100 three hours ago, was hungry but couldn't leave the machine, and had to write a presentation for tomorrow's business meeting. She was a middle-aged woman in a business suit, and when we saw her, she had racked 248,000 in pennies, which translates to $2480. Her rank was Commander, she had 60+ medals, and was winning $300 on bonus rounds. A woman from the casino kept coming over to check on her, to see if she was real. She was just amazing.

We have no idea if she ever got dinner. Or if she ever wrote that presentation. And as far as we know, she'll be there when we go to breakfast tomorrow.