Star Trek: The Experience
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Star Trek: The Experience is a theme park at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, based on the fictional Star Trek universe. To date the Experience has undergone one major renovation, which was opened on 18 March 2004. This renovation features a new "Borg Invasion 4-D" ride, which uses state-of-the-art technology to try to convince visitors that they are having an encounter with the Borg (Krutzler, 2004).
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The history of the future museum
After purchasing a ticket, one walks through a museum that includes numerous items from Star Trek history. It also features several video display devices and a timeline of Star Trek events. Later, there are displays for each of the major alien races, which includes the Borg, Klingons, and Ferengi.
The last section of the museum is a single hallway (of considerable length) with a divider in the median. The left side is for the Borg Invasion 4-D, and the right side is for The Klingon Encounter. Because the Borg ride holds about twice as many people, that line moves much more quickly.
The Klingon Encounter
Initially, a group of about twenty visitors enter a rather confining room. (The exact number of participants varies, as friends and family are unlikely to split.) Once inside the room, one of the ride directors begins speaking about the Experience and seems to be intentionally making it sound unexciting. During this initial lecture, a small device displays scenes from several Star Trek movies.
The group enters the next room, and the lights go out briefly. When they return, the walls and floor change to a transporter pad. The transporter room is supposedly on the USS Enterprise-D, but the layout is unlike the usual transporter room as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
On the transporter pad, a cast member dressed as a Starfleet officer asks who are the leaders of the group. After the two ride directors acknowledge they are in charge, the Starfleet officer orders them to leave. He then explains that the visitors were beamed aboard the Starship Enterprise and are in "what you would call the future". He then requests the group to follow him to the bridge.
The next two events include a visit to the bridge—which is an accurate replication of the one seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation and the movie Star Trek: Generations—and ride on a turbolift, which is inauthentic because it is oversized so that the entire group can be accommodated.
On the bridge, a crewmember explains that Captain Picard disappeared the moment the group beamed aboard the Enterprise; they explain that one group member must be Picard's ancestor, and that the Klingons have intentionally altered the timeline to eliminate Picard.
The group stands in the rear between the science stations and the tactical station. Although the three chairs that (from port to starboard) Counselor Deanna Troi, Picard, and Commander William Riker usually occupy are empty, that is only visible if one ventures to look over the semicircular counter that houses the tactical station. There are various crewmembers on the bridge during this time, and they contact Commander Riker, who promptly appears on the viewscreen. He explains that the group is to board a shuttlecraft to attack the Klingons.
While the group is in the turbolift, the Klingons attack the Enterprise. There is a malfunction and the turbolift enters a free fall (which is obviously simulated). There are several jolts on the turbolift during the attack. Finally, the group arrives at the shuttle bay deck along a large section of corridor.
The group then lines up to board the shuttlecraft. Each line corresponds to a row of seats in the shuttle, so people in the same line will sit in the same row.
The shuttle ride begins with a battle between the Enterprise and a few Klingon vessels. Then, the shuttle goes into warp for three seconds and drops out in the rings of a planet. The shuttle is then instructed to find a cloaking generator on the planet's surface, which it does. There are several dogfights during this time. The shuttle then returns through a time warp to present-day Las Vegas. A Klingon ship also follows, but the Enterprise saves the shuttle at the last minute. Then, the shuttle lands at the Las Vegas Hilton and the ride ends.
The shuttle door opens, and there is a custodian behind it. He explains that the shuttle fell through the floor and that the group is in a restricted area, and they must leave immediately. The custodian leads the group to an elevator and then out to the Deep Space Nine Promenade and Quark's Bar.
The Borg Invasion 4-D
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 volunteered to undergo medical testing because some of the members are immune to Borg nanotechnology (which he "detected" when the group entered the room). A Borg cube then appears on a viewscreen with a standard Borg hail ("resistance is futile") and the station goes to red alert. The officer at the rear end of the room repeatedly exclaims that there is some urgency in the matter and tries to rush the people along.
In the next room, there is a Borg drone examining a computer panel. The Starfleet officer tells us that he poses no threat at the moment. At the opposite end of the room is an officer on an elevated station. He opens the next door, and a Borg pulls him up from the ceiling.
The group then enters a room that purports to be an escape vessel. Everyone picks up 3-D goggles and sits down. Captain Janeway appears on two side viewscreens and explains the situation. The main viewscreens are in front and on the ceiling. The Borg then probe the group. 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.) The USS Voyager eventually comes in to "save the day", and the ride is over.
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