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We geeks may have a Mecca once again.  The place that made Vegas even greater, Star Trek: The Experience, which closed on Sept 1st of this year, seems to have found a new home, as reported last week by Trekmovie.com and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.  Serious negotiations are in the works between CBS/Paramount and Rohit Joshi, owner of the fiscally-troubled Neonopolis entertainment and shopping complex in old-school Downtown Las Vegas.  Rumor has it that gear from the LV Hilton is being hauled to Neonopolis instead of being discarded or shipped back to CBS as per the original plan.

 

This delights us to no end.  Quark’s bar wins out as my favorite in both the bar and the restaurant category (the Flaming Ribs of Targ rock!).  Of all the places in Vegas, The Experience is the one place on my list that I was most excited to visit, and typically made a trip to Quark’s on every night of my prior trips. 

 

The Klingon Encounter ride was showing its age prior to its closing (Strip scenes showed such anachronisms as Sigfried & Roy and the Stardust), and will no doubt be updated to tie into the new Abrams vision of Trek.  In order to open in time for the May movie release, I suspect that the initial opening could be minimal (Quark’s – hopefully! – and the gift shop and Museum of the Future, perhaps the Borg Invasion ride).  We’re really looking forward to visiting during our December 2009 trip to see what ST:TE Next Generation looks like.  We hope that they can re-hire some of the seasoned actors who played the costumed characters, such as April Hebert and Mark Weitz. 

 

If there’s a place big enough to host the Creations convention, this could be huge for Downtown.  Whereas a convention of this size was par for the course on the Strip, it could provide just the annual financial booster-shot that Fremont Street needs, and enough to keep Neonopolis from closing its doors for good. 

 

Needless to say, we’re quite excited, and will keep you apprised of further developments.  Q’pla!

We’ve added a couple of items to our December itinerary, as follows:

 

In the Eruptions category, the Mirage has announced that their new and improved volcano will be opening in December (in time for our trip, we’re hoping).  When it originally opened in 1989, the volcano was definitely a sight to see – the Mirage was Steve Wynn’s first foray onto the Strip, and he has never been accused of being low-key.  However, with even greater attention-grabbers such as TI’s pirate battle and the Bellagio fountains, the volcano started to seem a bit dated, even after new effects were added in 1996.

 

WET Design, the company that engineered the Bellagio fountains, was contracted to make the volcano much more spectacular.  It’s going to be similar in nature to the nearby dancing fountains… but with FIRE, bitches!  Suck it, Bellagio!  In a collaboration that seems time-warped straight out of the Seventies, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and Indian composer Zakir Hussain are creating a volcano-exclusive soundtrack to accompany the pyrotechnics.  And I’m sure it’ll be groovy, man. 

 

And drawing on the unavoidable comparison to the Bellagio fountains, while between shows we’ll be visiting the lounge Caramel in Bellagio proper, which covers our Confections category.  While I’ve not been there, reviews paint it to be a classy little place, wherein one would hear the likes of Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett playing in the background.  The big draw is the dessert martinis, with flairs such as glasses lined with items generally considered ice cream toppings, and drinks garnished with cookies.  Being a whiskey man, I’m not typically one for sweet drinks, but I do like a bar with ambiance, and it seems that this one will do quite nicely. 

Toward the end of last year, when researching hotel and airline ticket prices for our honeymoon in February, we discovered that Vegas rooms (and sometimes flights) are dirt-cheap the week prior to Christmas. We decided to make it an annual ritual to make a trip to our favorite town during this time as a Christmas present to each other, and encouraged family members to join us instead of getting us anything; their presents could be their presence (although in some instances, this is quite a stretch).

This year, we are being joined by April’s brother, Rich, and her father and his girlfriend. As their collective exposure to Vegas has been very limited, we’re trying to hit some of the hotspots; April and I have set a modest itinerary, and encouraged the rest of the posse to go their own ways and see what they’d like to see. Here are our plans (subject to change as the mood strikes), along with parenthetical notes.

My top 10 favorite things about Las Vegas:

 

 1)  David’s Itineraries.  Dave is a trooper and plans out a tentative itinerary for each trip with all the things we want to do and see.  Reading them really gets me in a Vegasy mood and I can almost picture myself there, going to all the places!  It’s like a mini-vacation in my mind!

 2)  Buffets.  Though I’ve only sampled a handful of the hundreds of culinary options, I can’t say I’ve had a bad meal in Vegas.  While everything that happens in Vegas, certainly does NOT stay in Vegas (I always have a few extra pounds that come back with me), I deem those vacation days as diet-free.  I don’t watch what I eat.  To the contrary, I tend to gorge myself with every possible delectable, to the point of being uncomfortable.  Sweet, sweet, tasty uncomfortable. 

While our Vegas vacations are what really keep us going, every now and again we need a quick fix.  The nearest Indian casino leaves a LOT to be desired: the exterior has a distinct warehouse feel to it, the buffet is reminiscent of Imperial Palace’s, the drink service is limited to non-alcoholic beverages, and, the most unforgivable offense: the employees are not just apathetic, they are, almost without exception, downright rude (this place could definitely stand to take lessons from the Indian casinos in Minnesota, which tend to be relatively classy establishments, albeit take your money just as quickly).  However, we are fortunate enough to live a mere 45-minute drive from Deadwood, South Dakota, a town rich in history and opportunities to divest yourself of your riches. 

 

As I’m sure many of you can relate, my overindulgences in Vegas translated to ten extra pounds upon my return.  After a week of eating healthy and riding the exercise bike, I weighed in this morning 4.6 pounds lighter.  It scarcely seems fair that it goes on so easily and comes off so hard…

-Dave

Friday, August 8th

We arrived at the Orleans at around 8:00 PM, and checked into our room after failing miserably at the $20 trick at the registration desk. The room was a 10th-floor Strip-view accommodation, significantly larger than your typical cheapo room. We were pleased to discover that the shower had a small window that you could open and yell at passers-by on the sidewalk below. Screaming “Hey, I’m naked and I have shampoo in my eyes!” just never gets old, trust me on that count.

Aah, Las Vegas. 

We left on lucky Friday, 8/8/08 - for a “sneakend weekend” as my hubby dubbed it – from Rapid City, SD to Las Vegas.  Thankfully, the flight was on time (I get giddy like a kid as time draws closer) and I thought it was a nice touch that the pilot flew directly over Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, intentionally or otherwise.