Today in Star Trek history: Star Trek: The Experience closed

At the bar at Star Trek: The Experience

Today in Star Trek history we remember the end of an era. It was 13 years ago, on September 1, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, that Star Trek: The Experience closed after 10 years of operation.

This was a Star Trek attraction like no other. It began as an idea by Gary Goddard to build a full-scale replica of the refit USS Enterprise, both interior and exterior. The ambitious plan would have been too expensive, however, and was scrapped after five months of planning, in favor of a scaled-down approach that Trek fans remember and talk about to this day.

The Experience opened to the public on January 3, 1998 and was an immediate success. Over its lifetime, it included Klingon Encounter and Borg 4D, two adventure rides that combined ride simulators, special effects, detailed sets and actors to make guests feel like they were actually in an episode of Star Trek. You could stroll the Deep Space Nine Promenade, stopping into Quark’s bar to have a drink or purchase souvenirs at Garak’s Clothiers or Zek’s Grand Emporium. And of course, you wouldn’t want to miss the History of the Future Museum, where you could meander through galleries of production items for all the series.

By May, 2008, attendance for The Experience began to dwindle and five months later its doors swished shut for the last time. A public ceremony was held, being presented as a naval decommissioning ceremony, with Suzie Plakson, aka K’Ehleyr and Selar (TNG), a female Q (VOY) and Tarah (ENT) giving the keynote. Other guests that day included Chase Masterson (Leeta in DS9) and Garrett Wang (Harry Kim in VOY).

The attraction was set to reopen in downtown Las Vegas in May, 2009, but it never did, and in 2011 it was announced that the plans had fallen through. CBS has promised that they are committed to opening a new attraction akin to The Experience, but so far nothing has come of it. The Star Trek universe is continuing to expand, however, so, as Captain Kirk claims Mr. Spock is want to say, “…there are always…possibilities.”