February 29
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We packed the car and checked out after a final breakfast at Bumbleberry’s, on our way back to Las Vegas.
Since we had most of the day ahead of us, we took a side trip to Hoover Dam, again taking the dam tour. Quite different from Glen Canyon. There must have been a thousand people there that day! A quick stop at Dairy Queen and we went looking for a different hotel than the one we had stayed on upon our arrival.
We wound up at a La Quinta on Tropicana which was very nice. Got directions to the local UPS shipment point and sent my exposed film off to be processed.
Then we had a little fun. We drove to the Las Vegas Hilton and spent the rest of the day there, mostly in the Star Trek Experience area.... Dinner at the Hilton’s buffet.
The Star Trek Experience was really a blast! You start out in the Museum of the Future, which contains several items from the various series and movies. The museum could have used Kelly (our curator daughter)’s touch with the signs - some were misspelled. Some items had the same tag on two completely different phasers! And some were placed in such a manner that you weren’t really sure which item was the subject of the sign.
Snaking through the exhibit is a timeline of the Star Trek history. Someone had way too much time on their hands (g).
Then into the special line for those that paid extra for photos. This lead directly to the bridge of the Enterprise as used in the Next Generation series. We each got our picture taken sitting in the captain’s chair - whoever wasn’t in the captain’s chair stood behind at Worf’s security station. Neat pictures (below)!
Then back out to the line for the ride. Interesting concept. They needed a little help with the graphics for one part of it, however.
I’ll give away the plot line, as they’re changing it in about a week - the new one is advertised as Borg 4-D....
It starts out as a blatant ride - watch a short video while standing in four lines - similar to the lineups for Back to the Future or Star Wars. But then the video is disrupted and the wall in front of you disappears to reveal a person dressed in a Star Trek uniform standing in front of a transporter console. The lights under your feet have changed to resemble a transporter pad.
You’ve been snagged by the Enterprise. The tour leaders are chastised and sent down one hallway, while the rest of us are lead down a corridor - looking just like the Next Generation’s Enterprise corridors and onto the bridge (the same one we just had our pictures taken on).
There, we’re told (by Riker and La Forge) that the Klingons have reached back in time to transport an ancestor of Picard in hopes of negating his birth. Enterprise had intercepted the transport and the Klingons were pissed (g). We would need to be shuttled back to the time disruption and back to the 21st century.
So, off the bridge to a large turbolift, which is disrupted by the Klingon battle and rocks and rolls a bit.
Finally reach the shuttle bay and board the shuttle, which is the same type motion ride as Back to the Future. We take off and dodge the Klingons, strafe something (similar to the Star Wars thing), and eventually reach the time rift. Through the time rift and, lo and behold, we’re flying over Las Vegas!
Zoom over the town and find the Hilton only to be confronted by a Klingon ship which has followed the shuttle through the time rift. It’s an uneven battle, which winds up destroying some of the hotel marquees, and we get caught in a tractor beam.
All looks lost, when suddenly, the Enterprise appears and blows the Klingon ship away. Picard appears back on the Enterprise and the shuttle swoops into the Hilton and takes its place next to the “other” ride simulators. The shuttle door opens to find a janitor wondering what we’re doing in the basement...
Out through back corridors and an overhead tv screen where the “news” is playing. The news crew asks the military about the unusual activity reported over the skies of Las Vegas. No, those weren’t spaceships, they were weather balloons. And the explosions? Sunspots. Ha-ha.
At the end of the corridor, you emerge onto the Promenade of Deep Space Nine. Over there is Garek’s clothing store (t-shirts and other souvenirs). Across the hall is Quark’s Bar and Grill. Down there is Moogie’s Trinkets (where we picked up our photos). And another shop that I’ve forgotten the name of that has the high-end souvenirs, including autographed posters and such. All in all, a neat experience! We had a blast.
We got our pictures taken, took the ride, wandered the Promenade and bought some trinkets, then left to eat at the buffet, which was on the other side of the hotel.
Tickets for the attraction are good for the remainder of the day and you can return to the exhibit and ride as many times as you want (hand stamps).
So, after dinner, we returned and did a thorough exam of the museum, then returned to the Promenade for drinks at Quarks. Carl had a James Tea Kirk (which was blue and had a piece of dry ice in it) and I had a Riker Rita (a blue tinted margarita with blue salt on the rim). Weak, overpriced drinks, but the experience was priceless (g).
Oh, and a gray haired Klingon was visiting Quark’s at the time, too. Quite a character!
It was an enjoyable ending for the trip.