I ama former cast member of Star Trek the experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. Questions?

No real question just wanted to say how jealous I am that you had that oppertunity.

While I'm at it here is my most memorable experience at the Experience...

I was in Quarks.. talking to my then wife on my cell, a tall woman playing a Klingon came over and snatched the phone away from me and started talking to my then wife. After she gave me back the phone I decided to be sassy a bit.. and asked her the only Klingon phrase I memorized from the Klingon Dictionary... "Where do you keep the chocolate?" (nuqDaq yuch Dapol?).

She looked at me.. smiled at first.. then went deadly serious.. and said "If I told you were I kept my chocolate I would have to kill you."

I'll always remember that. I mean every part of going to the experience rocked but that little interaction makes me smile every time I think about it.

You would not believe how much the Klingon actors studied the Klingon language.

The Klingon actors were the nerdiest of the nerds. Their homes and apartments were toy and fantasy-lands.

Why did they shut this show down? I didn't make it to Vegas in time to see it :(

I left in 2004, they closed in 2008. I have no clue.

Sooooo...any cool behind the scenes stuff?

Incidentally I was just in Vegas for CES and found it kind of sad that there's still a very badly faded Star Trek emblem on the side of the LVH. It's easiest to see from the monorail.

The real cool behind the scenes stuff was how we transported you from the false room that was balanced on a counterweight and pendulum roof that brought you into the transporter room. There were several thousand fiber optic cables that lined the false room walls to create the sense of being transported.

I always wondered how that worked. I just assumed it was just some false walls/ceiling that pulled away when the lights went out.

The best part was when the lights came up after I made the transporter gesture to complete the transfer and you would hear the ahhhs and oooo's. Many people actually cried when they realized where they were and what had just happened.

That was nearly my reaction the first time I went there when I was 13. I just gaped at everything. I was in absolute awe of the bridge. I have a pic somewhere of me sitting in the captains chair.

The Weddings were the most rewarding, Klingon, Starfleet dress whites on the bridge. We would also place remote control fart sound boxes on Picards chair to try and make people slip up by laughing when at the helm or at tactical.

Nice. So between groups coming through would you guys just shoot the breeze on the bridge?

Incidentally when I got my picture taken I really got time to take in the details. I was amazed that the dedication plaques were present and accurate.

For the most part I liked the actors but there were a couple times I laughed at them. I particularly remember a fat Borg on the Borg invasion that I couldn't help but be amused by. The Klingon ambassador guy was awesome though. I have a picture of him somewhere.

The guys who played Ferengi and Klingon were the coolest guys I have ever met.

Between shows we had books or newspapers hidden behind the transporter console, and we all shot the shit laying around in the enterprise corridors.

EDIT: it was cool you got a picture.

Is someone cutting onions? I think someone is cutting onions.

I was one of those people who only went once. I did the ooh and aah once the transport was over. I went in expecting the transporter to be on a rotating device or elevator and that I would feel the movement. I didn't feel any movement. I was ushered onto the bridge and was in awe at what just happened with the transporter I nearly missed what was going on the view screen.

Stepping onto the bridge was definitely the most rewarding part of going. It was like living in a dream. I had liked the series growing up but that was a dream come true. The actors were flawless.

I... I gotta go take care of these onions.

Someone is cutting onions. One of my fondest recollections was if anybody remembers that right next to the Viewscreen there were two exits lining in front of the viewscreen. On these two exits it had strategically placed exit signs which had to be put on the bridge because of fire codes in the city of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada. I always look at those exit signs and wondered if anybody ever got disillusioned that they were actually not on the enterprise. Most people never even brought up the fact that they were two standard 20th-century exit signs on the bridge.

Can you explain this a little more for someone who has never been?

The first time I ever went through before I was an employee, You snaked through most of the Star Trek memorabilia that line the museum portion to get you to the room culminating to the Borg area. You had to Starfleet actors that had blue jackets on in which we would allow you to get into either stage one or stage II of the enterprise. You would be herded into a small room with five Brose and placed by the actors they would then initiate the transporter person that was in and in the same room but on the other side of a false room. The show would start on the computer sequence and you would be beamed onboard the starship enterprise. What she got there you would have an actor come in through the sliding doors and ask why these people from Las Vegas were transported onto the enterprise. The actor at the transporter Helma would say that these people were brought up and needed to be taken to the bridge. We as actors would corral them into a specific spot behind tactical and near science lined up so that they can watch the video portion of the show as there were four actors blind and working on the deck of the bridge. The video which had William Riker and Jory Laforge would then ask one of us to take you through the turbo lift and down to the cargo bay where you would be placed in a shuttlecraft and setbacks who arrested time to the Las Vegas Hilton.

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It was a Four-story building that housed all the components it was somewhat like an amusement park ride based with this pendulum was a counterweight system is lifted the room up and then you had a swinging room that came in from left to right depending on your direction they brought in the transporter room. Specifically it was very dark in there so was hard to see most of the control mechanisms in general unless the maintenance guys have all the interior lights turned on there were maybe only a few occasions Raxit got to see a lot of the components but it was basically like looking in to an amusement park ride.

I figured out how everything but the floor worked. How did they change the surface you were standing on from carpet to the transporter floor?

The floor was a Plexiglas beneath the floor there were lighting systems not LED but either fluorescent or regular lighting. As you walked into the false room if you looked really hard you could see that there were two footpads placed on the Plexiglas this was to inform the transporter officer that all the guests were in the proper spot and it would show is a signal on the transporter board. If you remember there were four screens the screens were before flat-panel televisions so they were projected viewing panels. This provided the lighting so that when you walk into the false room onto the transporter pad it felt as if it was drawing your attention outsee you would not pay attention to the floor.

My mom went to this, i think she stayed at the excalibur but went to the trek experience. In quarks bar she met the real Worf who was in full character. When she asked him to pose for a picture he exclamated, "Klingons do not POSE! but i shall stand" awesome

Awesome, I met most if not all of the NExt generation cast and especially Jerry Ryan rawr!

So... it was me that was Picard's ancestor right? You can tell me. It's cool.

You know we had a camera in the shuttle to watch if anyone threw up and I vaguely remember the whole story line about Picards ancestry? I call bullshit.

I went there when I was about 18 with my family and my only regret was not being old enough to drink at Quark's bar.

We got a discount on the food at Quark's. http://imgur.com/qsT0lju

The drink menu

That is awesome. I would have loved to have a Saurian brandy. I remember seeing bottles of Romulan ale in the gift shop I believe. Did you ever try it?

Yes had Romulus ale and Klingon blood wine

That's awesome! Do you have any other photos you can share?

Actually no cameras were allowed and this was before smart phones. We were not allowed to being in any video or camera equipment.

"I was about 18...not being old enough to drink".

Hahaha.

What about synthehol?

Upboat for you!

No questions, but thanks for making my dreams come true.

Your welcome, there was a running joke for the female cast members: Most actresses were former show girls, The Experience was where they all went to pasture in their old age. LOL

So after this experience, do you think you could handle a 'galaxy quest' style situation?

When the ride went down and we had to stall in the cargo bay, I got nerd blitzed with questions only Trekkies would know like:

Ultra Nerd: " So with the turbo lift down how which way would WE get back to the bridge? Hmmmmm?"

Me: " sir, you would take Jeffries tube 401 from this deck 13 to deck 1 up the ladder to sub corridor 2A near the primary plasma conduits and EPS manifolds."

Ultra Nerd: " I see....."

So you moved to vegas on THE 9/11?

Yes, left Dallas that morning, started work on the 14th.

Someone, somewhere has a conspiracy theory and you are the mastermind of it.

lol

This transporter room sounds sweet. Any videos of it anywhere? I can't find anything.

Actually we had to sign a confidentiality agreement when we were hired. I am hoping that no one is going to track me down and see me because I have explained how the system works. But I have not gone into detail about it so I guess I'm in the clear

It's the morning after I started the IAMA thread. Thank you for all of the questions and positive feedback to and for all of the former employees that made it possible.

I wanted to share the best story working there.

I've been fairly competent in not sharing any actors name or people that work there. There was a gentleman who was about 6 foot tall he was half Chinese half Irish I assume. He was an amazing person and friend and a fellow colleague at Star Trek the experience. This gentleman was a homosexual but the that has no bearing on the story: This gentleman had the largest penis I think anyone has ever seen on or off the porn industry. As you know the Starfleet uniform was very tight and even though he could bundle this anaconda up sometimes he left it hanging. Immediately after the transporter sequence would in and he would come in to collect the guests from the transporter room this gentleman walked in one day and all of a sudden as soon as he entered the transporter room all I could hear was the gasps of women! They immediately would tilt their head down to see this large member in surprise and horror. Most men could not help seeing this, but would immediately look away. The women in the group would stay focused. I never knew if management ever had a discussion with him on the topic or they just allowed it anyway I thought it was a great story.

I worked on an online Star Trek convention and we had 3D models of Quarks made for it (the software we were providing used VRML). It totally looked awesome and I've wanted to visit the place for real ever since.

It did feel like you were on DS9 without the Nor-Class Cardassian Space Station with Armaments, 48 rotary-mounted phaser arrays 36 stationary-mounted phasers 3 slide mounted phasers 48 torpedo launchers5,000 photon torpedoes

It was awesome. Can you describe how the transporter worked? I assumed it was walls that were lifted up/moved.

We were standing in an "elevator" everything went black there was a woosh of air and when the lights came up we were on the bridge.

The room you walked into WAS the transporter room, the floor was a translucent plexiglass with the pads set for each guest, as I monitored the transporter control the other two actors would press a foot pad that signaled me to initiate the sequence, the fiber optics went off and the lifting of the false room would cause a rush of air basically giving you the feeling of LIFT. Once the room cleared the pendulum ceiling the lights came up. The room would go from 0-60 mph in 2 seconds.

I wish you could be a bit more detailed than this. That experience was one of the most stunning I've ever been through.

From what I recall, you think you're getting in a queue to step onto the shuttlecraft, which if you don't know what's coming, it looks just like you're about to step into a motion sim ride, five rows, etc. But then everything goes black and sparkly (the fiber optics, I assume), air rushes upwards all over your body and in almost no time at all everything around you changed and you realized you had been somehow "beamed" to the Enterprise. It took longer for it to sink in than it took for the transformation to take place and I would love to know more about the mechanics of that and who was responsible for creating it because man, it was cool. It felt real, which is a pretty ballsy trick to pull off.

Went to see this with my friend back in 2008, and we got the backstage tour (after the regular experience) where they showed you how everything worked - I gather they did this at the end for a bit of extra revenue and weren't too concerned with showing people how it all worked. They turned the lights on and ran the transporter for us in regular mode and it was pretty cool.

From what I remember (and this was 5 years ago, just before it closed):

They had the groups stand in exactly the right place in the first room, and after flashing you with lights so you won't be able to see what's happening in the dark, they have a very fast mechanism that pulled the entire first room away (walls and ceiling went up, ceiling closed as I recall), revealing the larger transporter room around the group when the lights came up.

I recall the tour guide saying that for safety reasons they had pressure pads in the floors that monitored everything to make sure nobody was in the danger zone when the walls moved.

By the time we saw the experience, it was already looking pretty dated (after all, TNG did finish in '94), and they would've had to re-build entire experience to make use of more modern Voyager or Enterprise set design.

I did like Quarks though - the food and drinks were actually pretty good when we were there, and the character actors that harassed the patrons were a lot of fun.

Edit: Found my certificate of authenticity :)

http://i.imgur.com/IcKpXdk.jpg

I can confirm this.

Damnit! When I was there for an EverQuest convention, there were two 4D ride experiences -- the Borg invasion and another one. I'm guessing you are talking about the other one.

I chose the Borg invasion. Very cool ride, almost made me wet my pants, but man... I should have chosen the Enterprise!

Yes I left before they had dismantled the other enterprise bridge and theater. They literally took down one of the stages to place the Boardtree experience inside of that room after I left I heard stories about how the Borg experiences post up the ability for people to come and see it I've always wanted to know what they did with all of the second theater. I'm sure the place was a different place when the Borg where there.

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I agree even after I left the show I would come back to Vegas and go through every time, the people that still worked there remembered me and they would always let me go in for free. If course whoever I was dating at the time I could show off and say, yeah I did that. But most of the time they were not impressed, but I do miss it.

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Parts of it are still around, and there are people trying to restore it into a museum: http://www.indiegogo.com/enterpriserestore.

The kudograms were the best

From what I read they sold everything at an auction

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I do not doubt the story. The actors they did play those characters were a unique bunch.

Have you heard of any plans for a new Star Trek Experience?

There were discussions and brokered deals with CBS for the Neonopolis in downtown but the economy took a turn and it all got shelved.

This is a little late, but I feel obligated to share my best memory of the Experience. I was 12 and my trekkie friend and I were spending our second day there. We were in a gift shop on the promenade and a ferengi came up and started pestering us to buy or get out. After some back and forth over etiquette and such, he unlocked a case, pulled out 3 strips of gold pressed latinum and let us hold them etc. After we gave them back he accused us of stealing the 4th strip. After calling over "security" he said he'd let us go if we paid him back for the strip by buying his book on the rules of acquisition. It totally worked and I still have that book.

There were sales strategy meetings and rehearsals for such things. It was an effective tool to sell items in the gift shops and at Quark's. Ferengi actors were the smartest most educated out of all of us. Most of us had Bachelors and masters degrees.

Were there any actors/actresses or other employees who weren't really into it? If so, what was your opinion of them?

Also, you mentioned that most of the actresses were former show girls. Roughly what proportion of the actresses were into it, and how many thought it was stupid and nerdy?

Every single woman I worked with knew little to nothing about the trek universe. At first I was offended, but after a while I separated fantasy from reality and accepted their lack of faith.

What was your favorite part of the job?

When the transporter sequence was finished an the lights came up people would cry and sob realizing where they had just been transported too.

When in the turbo lift having the women grab my ass in the tight uniform. Oh, and when other cast members would place themselves outside of the turbo lift pretending to be dead or injured. I would ask guests to help me clear the bodies.

That sounds like the best job ever... I'm jealous.

It was one of the best feelings when you woke up everyday knowing where you would go to work, the pride of putting on the uniform and placing my starfleet rank on my collar. Good memories

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I can only say I worked 5 days a week, morning or evening shifts. We would average 10 shows during the day and 6-8 on night shift. After taxes I made $600 a week.

I've been to the Star Trek Experience a few times and had alot of fun there. Thanks for making the post to remind me of it. I still have a photo of me sitting in the captains chair hanging in my office at work.

As I look around I only have one picture of me in the Employee card that we had to show before gaining admittance in the basement area. I will search for it and see if I can't find it posted up here as soon as possible.

Was it cold in there? The first time I went the experience was flawless, but the second time (a few months later) not only were the actors less into it but a few had modern-day jackets on over their uniforms and It made the whole thing seem foolish.

As a matter fact it was cool. If you remembered that one of the key components of gambling in general is to keep the atmosphere filled with oxygen and somewhat on the colder or how would you say more uncomfortable side? So yes we did need layers. We just had no line underwear to hide the outline of our junk.

I think I found some footage of it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmNLSJycMaw

Excellent, that's it. There does exist shaky cam footage. You can see how timed and choreographed everything was.

I was there quite a few years ago. I cant remember all that happened (I think it was the transporter room), but the cast member asked if anyone needed to go to sick bay. Was there an actual sick bay there for guests?

This is probably one of the best questions of the night. There were different codes over a radio system that we had that when you looked in on the shuttlecraft as it was going to sequence you had to stay on the monitor for cameras that were inside of the shuttlecraft. When you looked on to the monitor as the ride was going you would have to be ready with a list of codes and a code for was when you had somebody vomit you always had your finger on a button that would shut down the right and bring it back to its neutral position and you would have to help escort to guests and clean up all of the shuttlecraft utilizing maintenance personnel that were on staff

Well, I've likely met you, small world that it is. My wife and I have been through the Star Trek Experience twice. It was fun and the actors / employees did a good job. Thanks for a good experience.

My question: What was down that long corridor the customers are led past? It was long and Star-Trekky, with some room down at the end.

There was no secret handshake club room, mostly maintenance corridors. We had a huge break room with art departments, and especially the costume department where uniform repairs and alterations took place.

Do you have any stories about actors from the TV series visiting the Experience.

Robert Picardo, Jerry Ryan, I could go down the list, most of the time when in uniform you hardly left the confines of the ship. Most TV actors would pat on back or thumbs up during your performance.

Thanks for working there. I went there when I was around 13 years old and it was really a magical experience.

It was a great job

I was just thinking about this the other day, weird. One question – there's one part in one of the Star Trek rides where two monster-looking aliens are walking behind you, chasing you down a hall. Has anyone ever turned around and just confronted these guys? What's the protocol in that case?

Not to be funny, but are you sure this wasn't a dream. I don't remember anything to that effect other than what could've been on the borg experience.

My wife sucked it up and took me for our one year wedding anaversery. I took so much video and photos of everything. The transporter was really fun. Then to be on the bridge of the Enterprise. My question is did the exsitement ever where off? What was the best and worst part of working at something like that?

You know the excitement never wore off for those of us who were hard-core Trekkies. The stage manager who was one of the original founders and actors of the original cast still stayed on for many years after that. I cannot remember his name to this day. Every day when you put on that uniform you knew that the people that were coming to see you had high expectations it was never really spoken what you should do other than your job but most of us took it to the next level. There was such an eclectic staff they were gay guys, hot chicks, elderly women, and especially the actors that roamed around Ferengi and Klingon gear. I think we all knew exactly what the expectations were from the guests so we tried to make it as realistic, yet embedded in fantasy as possible.

You know and I think back on it they were never any negative moments. We all really really tried our best at making the experience no matter how many times we've done it during the day. I've never met a greater group of people then the ones that I worked with at the experience. I wish that I would've stayed in contact with everyone but as you know life moves forward and I'm sure most of the other actors move forward. In Los Angeles I may have saw or thought I had saw a couple of people that were working in the industry but I left acting in 2007 to go work on wind turbines and help save the world.

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I personally think with the Abrams reboot that's in theaters, I think that people between the ages of 30 and 60 would be the demographic to get people in there. So I would assume that it would not be a very lucrative effort if they work to reopen it as the next generation. They would have to be some new twist or possibility.

Damn I just nostalgia'ed. We used to go there every year during SOE Fan Faire. Warp Core Breaches, Borg Spheres... Mmmmm

Funny you mention that because when people were on the shuttlecraft, there were kudograms that lined the walls. We had camera set up so that we could look in on the guests and when somebody would touch it I Would come over the PA system and say "danger warp core breach initiated" Just to keep people from touching the Kudograms and play with many of the guests.

I just want to tell you how amazing that place was; I was there in 2003-2004-ish with my parents; we got a good deal to stay at the Hilton and when I heard that it was the hotel with The Experience in it, I almost pooped myself with excitement. The models, Quarks, Romulan Ale, the props from the shows/movies, all of it was wonderful and galvanized young me as a fan.

Anyway, my question is, did it ever get boring playing the same three parts day after day?

Never. We all loved every aspect of a job where guests were as passionate as we were.

Not a question, more of an apology for being a shithead child that tried to trick and confuse the poor people in the restaurant with stupid questions the entire night.

Been there done that

I was at this experience and was amazed by how everyone stayed in character. I was at Quarks and this child grilled a Klingon and Borg for about 5 minutes each and neither broke character. That, if anything impressed me the most. Do you have any stories of someone breaking character?

This is a great question because no one I mean no one in the history of Star Trek the experience ever broke character. It was never stated nor was it ever brought to anyone's attention that you should break character. The fact that there are so many Star Trek fans kept us from Running the experience for anyone. As I said above even would we place the fart machine in or on the bridge during a performance nine of the guests could hear it it was specifically located where only the actors could hear and if we did break character we were ever facing are looking at them. The function of the Starfleet actor that manned the tactical position where Worf was We had to make sure that all of the gas stayed within the carpeted area and didn't touch the consoles.

I just want to say what an amazing time I had on both the experiences, and how saddened I was on my last trip to Vegas when I saw that it was gone. Thanks for being one of the people that made it happen.

You're welcome. It was actually a dream job of mine after I left the military. After I had gotten my college education and had become and actor working on television and film, I wanted this to be my dream job.

Play the final captain's log.

Star date 2146.0743....

Could you explain the transporter mechanism a bit more? Obviously the best bit about it was that it was totally unexpected, but how exactly did it work? I assumed it was a false wall that was lifted out but I only just remember it (I guess it was in 1999 or 2000 that I was there).

Scroll through all comments, I detailed it in two other paragraphs.

I got a good drunk off your romulan ale. The blue dye turned my excrement a bright grassy green the following day, which sort of freaked me out for a while till I figured out what it was from.

My wife and I had a Borg Sphere at Quarks bar. We got so drunk off that thing. Then to have people walking around in costume. Was the Romulan Ale any good?

Actually the Romulan ale was not that great nor did I ever drink it more often than once. It was blue food coloring with Pabst blue ribbon beer.

Did you fly on 9/11/2001?

Actually in Dallas Texas that morning around 8 AM closer to 9 AM, me and my girlfriend at the time were loading up the U-Haul, and we had heard on Howard Stern that the plane had hit the building. So Iran down as fast as I could to the U-Haul and dug through it to find the TV and try get back upstairs. We sat there and watched most of the events until at least 12 noon. We finally got on the road around one or 2 o'clock. We drove all the way through Texas New Mexico and stopped in Flagstaff Arizona where we watch TV all night to see the recovery efforts. While listening to the radio during the whole trip we listen to all the members of the Government speak. When we got to Vegas it was like a ghost town. I remember driving the U-Haul as we were coming in the state of California and realizing that there were no planes in the skies how there was nothing above us other than the international space station.

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Craziest? Living off of the strip I was off South Maryland Parkway. One night there were 10-20 neighbors doing cocaine at the pool all night when I went outside at 4:00 am they were all hunched over in the bushes searching for a whole gram bag of coke yelling, " WE NEED TO FIND THE BLOW BEFORE THE SUN COMES UP AND OUR KIDS FIND IT!"

I walked over to the pool and lifted one of the filters and found the gram floating in its waterproof container.

EDIT: they moved the party indoors as the sun broke.

Sorry I'm way late to this. Are you still acting/ acting in LV? Hoprfully things have turned around so you can get some gigs. This is a great AMA btw, wish I could have enjoyed the Experience before they closed. Are you still in the service/guard too.?

Thank you for asking, I spent 8 years in the US Army and got my college degree in Acting. I had several commercials, stage and film jobs before heading to Vegas. Since 2008 I have been traveling the world as a renewable energy engineer. Primarily wind. In the next few years I will head back to Los Angeles after I age to go for more roles.

I'm surprised that no one has asked this yet as far as I can tell, so forgive me if its a repeat. I figure since you worked at the experience, surely, you must have seen an episode or two from one of the series. Which episode was your favorite?

Season 6 episode 20 The Chase: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

Do you enjoy "Tea Earl Grey... hot?"?

Make it so Number 1

Anyone ever fart loudly during a performance?

What kind of substances did performers abuse, if any?

There were a few ravers, and a large gay contingent, but no substance abuse. Everyone had to stay in shape to fit into the uniforms.

My brother had his bachelor party in vegas. We were all huge star trek fans, so we made sure to plan the star trek experience into the weekend. It was awesome, the whole thing, we were incredibly drunk and and we may have said some inappropriate things throughout, cause I think there were kids there, but we had a blast!

We drank so much romulan ale and ate a bunch of hamborgers at Quark's, it was great, thanks!

Yeah I probably had to deal with drunk hecklers every night after 6 pm until closing.

Were you required to say "beam me up Scotty" whenever you got into an elevator?

Rule #1, never break character....never lol

I was in Vegas a year ago and had no idea this thing even existed. Is it free?

What's it like living in Vegas? When my gf and I went, we did stuff outside the city each day (petting zoo, Hoover Dam, the national and state parks that are out there, horseback riding). Then at night we just toured the resorts. I'm also a recovering addict/alcoholic and there are some great AA meetings around. So we got to see many sides of Sin City.

What kind of inside free/cheap stuff is there?

I tell everybody that it's worth moving to Vegas at least once. Henderson is a area above Las Vegas that most locals that want to live in a very clean nice and newer part of Vegas live. I would literally ride my bike from Henderson that is bicycle from Henderson to the experience it only took about 6 miles and 30 to 35 minutes. And I never had anything negative to say about Las Vegas. The only thing that ran through everyone's minds that live there was the fact that you stayed off the strip. The only time did any locals would ever go to the strip is when you had friends or relatives from out of state come and visit you. Vegas was a great place to be affected if you weren't alcoholic you could go to any supermarket and pick up any type of alcohol at any time any place and see the most unusual strange and unique cluster of people you've ever seen in your life.