I'm with Brian. 55, 69, 85.
55 was just so dense in the smaller Hollywood, with massive and creative float sets, lots of fun flair with the 50s theme, and a deluge of really fun 50s High School vampires wherever you looked. Honestly one of the best delivered zones I've ever seen.
85 was a big step down for a few reasons. The decision to move from Hollywood to New York made some sense with the 80s NYE theming, but honestly the significantly larger space ended up causing the significantly smaller sets to get lost in the rush. There also weren't a ton of Vampires, or at the very least it didn't seem like it again due to New York's huge sprawl, it seemed much easier to run Hollywood over with Vamps than NY. The show was fun, but the costuming and music didn't pop out as much as the 50s High School theming did, especially in a year so 80s-centric, it just felt like more of the same.
I was initially worried upon hearing about another New York Vamp zone, but after this run I can say they delivered a proper Vamp. Definitely still missing some of the campiness and fun of 55, but the static sets and props from 85 were switched to larger scale ones that were able to be manned by Vampires dancing or scaring from inside the structures which filled out the zone more. They also cast a very sizable group of Scareactors, and because of that it felt like the Vampires were pretty omnipresent no matter where exactly you were in the area. While the costumes were still really grounded in a way that 55's weren't, the more regular looks of the performers allowed them to dip in and out of the crowd with ease which I take as a win for scare factor honestly. The big stage was pretty underutilized and probably could've held an '85-type show, but I think resources went elsewhere. The window and bus silhouettes were very fun, and though I've heard complaints about the soundtrack for the Music Fest theming, it was a selection of honest bops. "Aquarius" is just an absolutely perfect song for HHN32 with all the Zodiac theming, "Bad Moon Rising" fits on any Halloween playlist, and a friend and I called that Vamp '69 would win ZotY if only for "Sweet Caroline" which filled the entirety of the massive New York area from Pop-A-Nana to Beat Builders stage with a surge of energy, both guest and performers were getting hit by it. I think '69 is missing an X-factor to really make it an all-timer, but as is, it was a real fun zone that deserves the award it won.
For what it's worth, Sweet Revenge from HHN31 is kind of the closest I've ever seen New York come to capturing the energy of Vamp '55.
