I believe we’ve already sufficiently established my Trek geekiness, so imagine how thrilled I was to see this article in the Las Vegas Review Journal about the possibility of the Star Trek Experience being resurrected and relocated Downtown in Neonopolis? Woo!
I especially enjoyed this line: “If it works it would be the biggest resurrection since Mr. Spock reanimated on planet Genesis– both for the Experience show and the troubled Neonopolis development.“ Heh.
I could never figure out why Neonopolis didn’t attract any visitors. I went there my first trip after it opened, and it was like a ghost town (which was kind of creepy). But if it could score the Star Trek Experience, for sure that would draw Trekkie foot traffic, at least. In fact, it would get me to spend at least part of my next trip to Vegas staying at a Downtown hotel for the first time ever, just so I could be near it and hang out there every night.
The trouble with Downtown for me has always been that there’s really nothing to see or do there during the day, and not much even at night for non-gamblers. That’s been changing, however, with some hotel upgrades and the development of Fremont East. Adding the Star Trek Experience to the mix could be just the kickstart ol’ Downtown needed to start drawing non-gamblers (because obviously the cheap meals, cheap drinks, and cheap hotel rooms weren’t enough). In my opinion, Joshi is right: Downtown needs another attraction, something that will keep people there for a long enough period of time that it might rub off on the other businesses down there.
I agree with Anthony Pascale of Trekmovie.com, though (are you listening Mr. Joshi?), that if they are to resurrect the Star Trek Experience, they also really need to update it. As much as I loved it, it was starting to feel its age by the time it closed at the Hilton (especially the Klingon ride, since it featured shots of the Las Vegas Strip, which no longer looked the same after 10 years). It’s not like they don’t have plenty of material to work with, what with 5 TV series and soon-to-be 11 motion pictures. They should try to incorporate a little bit of every series into the Experience, to appeal to all the segments of Trek fans. (Says the armchair critic.) In any case, I’ll be interested to see how this all sugars out.
