Avengers attraction on the Strip to close

by · Las Vegas Review-Journal

The retail area at the Marvel's Avengers Station inside the Treasure Island hotel-casino is seen on Friday, June 10, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Erik_Verduzco

Movie character costumes for Iron Man are seen at the Marvel's Avengers Station inside the Treasure Island hotel-casino on Friday, June 10, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Erik_Verduzco

A movie character costume for Thor is seen at the Marvel's Avengers Station inside the Treasure Island hotel-casino on Friday, June 10, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Erik_Verduzco

The entrance to the Marvel's Avengers Station inside the Treasure Island hotel-casino is seen on Friday, June 10, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Erik_Verduzco

A Marvel-themed attraction on the Strip will close in the new year.

Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. at Treasure Island’s last day of operations will be Jan. 1, the ticket booking site for the attraction shows. An employee confirmed the closure Monday.

The interactive exhibit on the second floor of the north Strip property has been open since 2016 as an experience and retail space filled with authentic props and costumes from the Marvel Avengers movie franchise.

Representatives of Treasure Island and Victory Hill Exhibitions, the attraction producer that leases the space from the resort, did not respond to requests for comment.

Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin, who bought the 30-year-old resort from MGM Resorts International during the Great Recession, changed much of the property’s retail and family-friendly entertainment space in the early 2010s. It traded out the property’s famous nightly, free pirate show on the Strip with retail space. New management traded out a high-end Italian restaurant for Gilley’s Saloon, a western-style dance hall. They also added a Señor Frogs, a popular Mexican-themed bar-restaurant brand in vacation spots, and later added the Avengers attraction.

Ruffin told the Review-Journal in November that his team was considering a modified return to the Strip-side pirate show. He said his team is considering hologram or animatronic options to provide another pirate show.

“Since they’re gonna shut down (The Mirage) volcano, this will be something to see, and it’s free,” Ruffin said in an interview.