strange new worlds

As I mentioned previously, we were in Las Vegas about a week ago, and the Hilton Hotel's Spacequest casino is a favorite of ours, and we also enjoy looking through the Promenade shops at the Star Trek merchandise. On this visit, we noticed a postcard advertising that a Star Trek convention was scheduled to be held at the Hilton in August. Wow. It of course makes perfect sense, but can you imagine the convergence of Trekkies/ers that are going to be there come early August? This is the first I've heard about it, but apparently, they've been holding an annual Star Trek convention at the Hilton in Las Vegas since 2002. I wonder if the Hilton warns other guests booking for that time about the convention and what to expect from their fellow hotel guests. I can imagine the surprise that some people might have when they encounter groups of costume-adorned people wandering around the hotel. When we went to Celebration IV, the Star Wars convention, last year, there were designated hotels that people going to the convention could book, but at least they were pretty spread out among a number of hotels. In this case, I would expect the concentration of people would be staying at the Hilton directly since it would be most convenient and since I would expect there would be some kind of special convention rate.

I'm wondering what it's like for the people working the Promenade shops when the Star Trek experts descend on the place. On one visit we made with friends some time ago, the husband and one friend did the Star Trek Adventure (when they only had the Klingon one), and another friend and I wandered around the Promenade. One person working in the shops kept trying in impress us with his knowledge and experience as it pertained to Star Trek, but for differing reasons, it didn't work on either of us.

In talking about the convention to friends over the weekend, I had mis-remembered that the convention was going to be in September. It turns out that we will most likely be making another trip to Vegas this year, in September, and I was wondering if it was the same weekend. There's a tiny part of me that would have thought it was interesting just to pop in and sight-see the convention goers. However, since the convention is in August and we wouldn't be going until September, that's now a moot point. But at least that means we'll be able to play in the Spacequest casino in relative peace.

In my previous life, I attended Star Trek conventions for a couple of years, and they were fun. All the conventions were run by Creation Entertainment, and I went to a few non-Star Trek conventions run by Creation as well. Creation as a company has their upsides and downsides when it comes to conventions they put on, but everything I know/experienced was from multiple years ago, so I have no idea what it's like now.

In the Promenade area, they have a replicator that's supposed to be able to produce foods from different cultures. The sound was working, but the picture was not. I'm thinking they might want to get that fixed before August.