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Star Trek: The Experience on the rocks |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 08 May 2008
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 Las Vegas was invaded and colonized by Star Trek a decade ago, when Star Trek: The Experience took up shop at the Las Vegas Hilton. The attraction draws thousands of Trekkies daily to the Star Trek-themed shops, museum, rides, and restaurant (set on a Deep Space Nine-esque promenade). In 2006, when Viacom sold off its amusement parks unit, Ohio-based Cedar Fair took over the parks, including The Experience. There is currently a contract in place between CBS (split off from Viacom) and Cedar Fair to operate The Experience, but it will expire at the end of the year, and Cedar Fair has not committed to a renewal.
Talks are ongoing between Cedar Fair and CBS, but according to a Cedar Fair spokesperson, “there are currently no plans to renew.” Even though Cedar Fair has successfully implemented cost-cutting at The Experience, attendance has been in decline for several years now. It is possible that the upcoming Star Trek film (due in one year) could boost attendance, but The Experience would likely require revamping to meet new expectations.
 Conceivably, if Cedar Fair elects not to renew the contract, they could sell Star Trek: The Experience to the highest bidder. Looking into Cedar Fair’s past, though, there is no precedent for park sales. By and large, Cedar Fair has been a very successful amusement park operator, by stock value ranking just behind Disney. Cedar Fair’s flagship Sandusky, Ohio, Cedar Point park has been voted the world’s best amusment park every year in the past decade. Since its founding in 1983, Cedar Fair has purchased or opened 21 amusement and water parks around the United States and Canada, and has only closed two – Geauga Lake in Aurora, Ohio (an hour’s drive from Cedar Point) and Camp Snoopy in The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
The final decision on the future of The Experience is expected by the end of May. If they decide to close the park, the contract calls for them to vacate the Hilton by December 31st, 2008. Vacating would require the dismantling of the entire attraction, which would mean that The Experience would have to close in September or October. Genuine Star Trek props and many of the replicas would be returned to CBS, and Cedar Fair would retain ownership of everything else (including a number of replicas).
Since The Experience opened in 1998, the official Creation Star Trek Convention has been held at the Las Vegas Hilton. If The Experience were to close, Creation would certainly consider moving future conventions elsewhere in Vegas, perhaps closer to the Las Vegas Strip. The convention would remain in Las Vegas, as it was taking place in the city a decade before Star Trek: The Experience opened.
[via: TrekMovie.com]
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