Everyone: remove your rubber Klingon foreheads. Star Trek: The Experience, is not re-opening yet, apparently stuck in that little room between the clown make-up and anti-clown make-up universes.
The Nevada attraction, which closed September 2008 at its old location in the Las Vegas Hilton, was supposed to reopen in the city’s Neonopolis mall this Friday, sensibly in tandem with the release of this year’s Star Trek movie. Fans from hundreds of miles away were heading to Vegas for this double dose of sensory magic.
They will be disappointed.
The Las Vegas Sun reports that the attraction now “won’t open until 2010 at the earliest” according to mall’s head of development. This contradicts earlier predictions of a May 8 opening by both Star Trek’s CBS overlords and the Las Vegas mayor.
The plan for reopening the attraction, according to the Sun, has shifted from opening sections as they were completed to opening the whole thing all at once. While “phased openings” are usually a disappointment, in this case it would certainly have made sense. It isn’t clear if this shift was a strategic blunder, or the result of a turf war, or just an excuse to cover an inability to meet the deadline.
There will be plenty of Star Trek fans willing to visit Star Trek: The Experience whenever it reopens. But it won’t be this weekend. In fact, Trekkies may be several years older before they get the chance.
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