Star Trek : The Experience

    You don't have to be a trekkie to love "Star Trek: The Experience", shown in the Las Vegas Hilton.  It really deserves the title of "The Experience" because the ride is centered around a plot involving you! We won't spoil the experience by giving away the storyline, but we will tell you that it is much more than your average simulator ride. It's worth every penny of the $70 million spent by Paramount pictures and the Las Vegas Hilton. By the end of the ride you'll feel like you just graduated from Starfleet Academy.

    The "Experience" begins by strolling through an exhibit of Star Trek artifacts. There are several different versions of the  Enterprise suspended from the ceiling, and huge monitors play clips from the various films and episodes. What trekkies might find most interesting in the History of the Future exhibit is the Star Trek Timeline culled from scenes and episodes. For example, you can see the stardate James Kirk graduated from Starfleet, or find out when Deep Space Nine was created. Don't pay too much attention to the timeline or you might miss the Klingons and Ferengis that are roaming the exhibit. Other than the timeline, the exhibit has all sorts of artifacts behind glass. There are numerous costumes, weaponry, makeup, special effects and props used in the four different Star Trek television series and eight motion pictures.

    Visitors are permitted to stay as long as they wish in the exhibit, so take your time. Next is the actual simulator ride. The simulator's screens extend over the heads of the riders, giving a great perspective. In fact, the screens take up your entire field of view, so you won't see anything but the action.  Another feature of the ride is that it is suspended on a six-axis platform like those used to train NASA. It's the only one of it's kind inside a domed theater, and experienced simulator riders will feel the difference.

    After the ride, visitors can grab a bite at Quark's Bar and Restaurant where you can get drinks like a Vulcan Nerve Pinch Martini, Romulan Ale and a Riker-Rita.  If you hungry, you can try Glop on a Stick, Major Kira's Spicy Wings and The Wrap of Khan. All this is built inside a recreation of the promenade from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

    Of course, all this leads into the largest collection of Star Trek merchandise anywhere. If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist. They have everything including Borg waterbottles. Resistance is futile.