For anyone interested just to let you know, the VS Downtown check in desks have been moved and are now at the very far end of what was previously known as the Westside. I feel sorry for anyone seeking this checkin service out for the first time. On our second visit to this new Disney Springs 'construction site' we found ourselves in a surface car park, rather than taking notice of staff directing us to the multi storey car park. For info, anyone doing the VS Downtown check-in, once you've been able to get into the chaos area then drive over to the far left side near the Cirque du Soleil bldg (don't use the multi storey car park) and follow signs for Virgin checkin but be warned parking seemed difficult.
Our week at the Diplomat Resort on Longboat a Key passed so quickly and then it was time to head home, travelling from Sarasota to JFK on JetBlue then VS to Heathrow.
Sarasota airport seemed like a good idea. It is a small airport but deals with quite a few domestic flights. Dropping the car off was so easy and then we just walked to the terminal. The airport is well laid out with some nice shops and restaurants. Friendly checkin agent tagged out bags to JFK saying had we have been with BA he could have checked them right through to London. Security was a breeze, as for some reason we had 'priority line' written on our boarding pass.
The incoming JetBlue flight from New York was 10minutes late but they assured us the turn round was possible and once all boarded, we would leave on time. It was a full flight and most passengers had an incredible amount of 'carry on' bags. They even announced any bags given up to go into the hold would not incur a charge. Tad annoyed at this announcement as we had to pay for our extra bags at $35 x 2. Boarding was slow, initially because there were four wheelchair passengers, lots of families with very young children and of course all those carry on bags take ages to store in the overhead bins.
Finally our seats in row 3 was announced for boarding. We sat down, strapped up and then the Captain came out and announced we had lost our slot, and we would be delayed at least 2hours because JFK had runway problems due to cross winds. We deplaned, went back into the terminal and sat for what seemed ages but they gave free snacks and non alcoholic drinks whilst we waited.
Then boarding commenced again and eventually we pushed back 2hrs and 15minutes late. This delay was going to affect us significantly at the other end, at JFK. The flight up was quite uneventful and no sign of the wind issue as we finally made our approach into JFK, having been on hold for 15minutes. New York was by now dark and extremely wet & misty. It took absolutely forever to get our luggage and then we had long walk from JetBlue terminal 5 to the Airtrain point where the terminal train took us one stop to Terminal 4.
Not sure we will consider this route home in the future but if we did, I would make sure we used Delta for our connection. However when sitting in the Clubhouse at JFK we heard of the horrendous delay for the MCO - Gatwick flight so at that point we was glad we didn't opt to drive back to Orlando.
I now know why they say travelling to Orlando is a trip of a lifetime - you spend a lifetime trying to keep up with all the changes 
