Kelliente

We stayed downtown right across the street from the Arch and one block from Busch Stadium. The room had a nice view and was a good price, but only because we got it on priceline. Typically the price would have been $350 a night which was waaaay over priced for the quality of the room. We visted the International Bowling Museum and Cardinals Baseball Hall of Fame which are in the same building and you get admission to both for the price of one ticket. The Bowling museum is definitely worth visiting if you are a bowler of any kind. You also get to bowl one free game at the alley in the basement and you get a complimentary pin that says “I bowled a game and the International Bowling Hall of Fame”.

We attempted to visit the arch on a Sunday, but even though we got there at 9AM, all the tickets to go to the top of the arch were already sold out. So, if you plan to ride to the top, you should pre-order your tickets over the internet or the phone. We could still walk around the museum in the bottom of the visitor’s center, but it was really a ridiculous place where the hair is falling out of all the animal statues and you can’t touch or take a picture with anything because the security guards watch you like hawks and make you feel really uncomfortable. The picture posted with this blog is from the museum in the visitors center. Like I said, the museum is a joke. As you can see in the photo, they inexplicably placed a model of beavers building a dam in front of a picture of an atomic explosion. One has to wonder why they did that and who thought it was a good idea.

We also went to a St. Louis Blues / Nashville Predators hockey game. Overall, I was not very impressed with the fans. We sat in the upper deck and not a single person who sat around us knew anything about hockey (even though some of them were wearing St. Louis Blues Jerseys). One person who sat behind us was wearing a Blues Jersey and could be overheard referring to the 3 periods as “quarters” and during the second intermission asked, “what do you call that thing that looks like a big lawnmower that comes out and cuts the ice?”

One bright spot of the trip was that we got to see a real live police chase as it roared down the street in front of our hotel while we were outside smoking. A black impala sped down the street followed by about 20 police cars and a helicopter. Shortly after this, we noticed that through a window in a room on the 8th floor of the hotel, we could see strippers dancing while flash bulbs went off as someone took pictures.

In general, the people in St. Louis were NOT friendly AT ALL, and the attractions were sub-par. I will be happy never going to this city again.

They have two ‘experiences’ that you can participate in at this attraction. Admission to either one of the rides also gets you admission to the “museum” they have, which includes a HUGE completely comprehensive timeline that includes all series and movies (that must’ve taken a lot of work!) and a ton of memorabilia from the movies and all the series, right up through “Enterprise”. When you get ready to enter the ride area, they will ask you to stand in front of a blue screen and will take your picture. They don’t tell you what it’s for, but it’s so they can photo shop your head onto a body in a group cast shot of your favorite Star Trek series! So pose accordingly. I wish they’d told me what the photo was for so I wouldn’t have posed so goofilly. You have the option of purchasing these photos after you exit the ride at a shop in the promenade area. They are cheaper than the “sit in the captains chair” photos you can pay to have taken, and IMO, just as good.

The first, original experience ride is definitely worth the $20 or so you have to pay to do it. Not to reveal too much, but you get “transported” which is really neat, and you get to spend some time on the bridge of the Enterprise D (although it’s the bridge from the first season where the ops and helm chairs are all reclined back like you’re in a race car. It was a really cool experience to get to actually walk around on the bridge of the Enterprise. I was in geek heaven and had a huge grin on my face the whole time!!

The new ride however— “Borg encounter” or something like that— isn’t really worth it. It’s based around Star Trek Voyager (Why’d they skip Deep Space Nine?) It’s much cheesier, and mostly consists of one of those 3D movies where the chair pokes you in the seat or blasts air in your face at certain parts of the movie. Not that great.

Quark’s has pretty decent food, but if you go, be sure to order one of the large fishbowl drinks they have. They come with dry ice in them, so they’re constantly bubbling over with fog while you drink them. And they really pack a punch! They’re a bit expensive, but will get TWO people pretty drunk, so it’s worth it. Also makes for a great photo opportunity.

And, after you drink, be sure to check out the men’s bathrooms in the casino area that is up the stairs from Quark’s. Apparently it has something on the toilets or urinals that pretends to do a urinalysis and talks to you. It’s supposed to be pretty neat, but I wouldn’t know because I’m a woman and they didn’t bother to do anything that neat with the women’s bathroom. That really pissed me off. Come on LV Hilton, what’s up with the sexual discrimination? There are plenty of girl Star Trek Fans too!!!

There aren’t too many shops on the “Promenade” area they have set up— and I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t have a da’bo table set up where you could gamble, I mean, this IS Vegas after all— but you can get some pretty neat schwag there. I picked up a shot glass, an insignia pin, and a “Starfleet Academy Athletic Dept” tee shirt and sweats that say “Star Fleet Academy” on the butt. I have gotten a lot of use out of them and they’re now my favorite sweat pants.

Over all, this experience is definitely worth visiting, especially if you are any kind of a Star Trek fan. I hope they have plans to expand the “Promenade” area, since right now it’s kind of small and underwhelming compared to what they advertise it as. It really wouldn’t be that hard to make the small gambling area they have near the experience look like the Promenade, and honestly, I really don’t understand why they didn’t do that.

But the area is still definitely worth a visit, and if you take the Las Vegas Monorail, the exit for the Hilton puts you out right in the middle of the Star Trek Experience area. This was probably the second most awesome thing I visited while in Vegas.

I’ll be going to Saitama U in March!! I going mainly to study the language, but I also want to meet lots of people and go to lots of live performances.

Plus, I absolutely love Japanese fashion and style. I plan on walking into a trendy Japanese Salon and letting them do whatever they want to my hair— which is kind of a big deal for me!!