Las Vegas - The Star Trek Experience

OK, I admit it. I’m a bit of a nerd. More specifically, I’m a Trekky nerd. Long hours of my spare time at University were spent watching second hand copies of Star Trek episodes. Each new movie was greeted with raptures of excitement and the cancellation of “Enterprise” is right up there with the Hindenburg in the list of modern tragedies. Image my excitement then, at going to the Star Trek show in Vegas!


The Star Trek Experience is the headline attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton. The other attraction is Barry Manilow. If Barry dressed up as a Vulcan maybe, just maybe, I might go and see him. Until then, it was all Trek and no Barry for me.

The Experience opens with a wide range of Star Trek props and models from the various shows and movies. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. A similar exhibit was run in London a few years back. I seem to remember, that this exhibit had a lot more stuff. Oh well, it was still pretty exciting!

The next bit, was the best bit. They have installed two “rides”. The first is the “Klingon Encounter” and the second is the “Borg Invasion”. The Klingon one involves a motion simulator ride, whilst the second is a 3D movie. I only went to the second one, as I didn’t have time. You can spend as much time as you like in the Experience though, so you should be able to see both.

The show was pretty well done. It starts off with some amateur theatre. Dudes dressed in Star Trek uniform lead you through a couple of rooms, where you eventually run into some other dudes dressed as Borg and the floor shakes a bit. Exciting stuff. Before long, you’re into the main event – the movie theatre.

The 3D on the movie is pretty convincing. The movie also features the proper actors from the TV series. You have Janeway, the Voyager Doctor and the Borg Queen. All good stuff.


The real surprise though, avoid this if you don’t like spoilers, is the chairs. A couple of minutes into the show, the chair starts poking you in the back in time to something grisly happening on the screen. You’re also randomly blown with bursts of air as well. Combined with the 3D effect, it’s a lot of fun.

After the show, you’re dumped into the shopping area. The brochure says it’s built as a replica of Quark’s Bar from “Deep Space Nine”, but it was a pretty tame effort. There was one dude dressed as a Klingon wandering around though, which was a bit of fun.


I bought my ticker from the Tix 4 Tonight stall, so I paid half the regular admission price. It’s pretty good value for what you pay. If you’re not a Star Trek fan, then the movie is still a bit of fan. If you ARE a Star Trek fan, then set a heading to the Hilton, warp 9. Engage!