V-Flyer

Checked in online the night before just to lock-down the seat selections – got sequence numbers in double figures. Did bag drop the following morning at a deserted Downtown Disney – you could tell they were expecting it to be quiet as there were only 4 staff there in total, including the van driver / bag handler.

Did both Universal parks for a few hours – which were both very busy, but we got on everything with the help of Express tickets. A word of warning to anyone planning an Orlando trip in January... we had expected the parks to be empty in mid-January, but they are way busier than when we normally go in May. According to someone we spoke to at SeaWorld, it is a holiday period in Brazil at the moment and all the huge tour groups you could not fail to miss are from there.

Headed out to MCO mid-afternoon and found that the security lines were very short – you could walk right up to the agent who checks your ID & boarding pass. I got the random ping on the metal detector so had to wait for secondary screening. After a wait of about 5mins and a swab of my hands, they were satisfied I had not been handling anything explosive related and I was on my way.

After duty free shopping and a pleasant hour or so in the Delta Sky Club, we headed down to the gate, when we got there the boarding announcement was just being made, so we were straight on. Am not sure the crew were quite ready for us, as they seemed surprised when we appeared at both the aircraft door & when we passed through the UC galley. Champagne and sleep-suits were offered and accepted. The crew went to open another bottle of champagne & produced a bottle of Bollinger... it would have been rude not to try it. Flight time is going to be a quick 7 hours & like the outbound flight, it’s another light passenger load of 168 + 16 crew. Again, like the outbound flight, Upper Class is full.

An uneventful flight followed. Had the beef main course followed by the cheese. There was nothing wrong with either, but I was not over hungry. Had the seat converted to a bed and there was no duvet available – so the crew member went to find one. He was gone a good few minutes – do they stash them at the other end of the plane / in the crew-rest? A duvet was produced and I had a few hours sleep of sorts.

Woke up about an hour out of Manchester so did not have to be woken. Had a reasonable breakfast as we started the descent over Dublin. The cabin was secured about 20mins out of Manchester – a pretty hard landing followed 20mins later. A short taxi to the stand followed and in we were landside within 15mins of getting off the plane.

All in all, a good UC experience on this flight. The FSM is one I have flown with a few times before and she was present in UC cabin during drinks & meal service. I guess the only comment I can make is the same one as on the outbound flight, i.e. very low-season and the UC cabin is full... and Virgin are reducing the UC capacity from MAN in a few months time.

I am surprised and disappointed to hear that the parks are full at this time of year. Am due to go next week and was expecting things to be very quiet - but at least we have been warned, thank you !
regards
hiljil

Thanks for the TR.
Perhaps the A330 from April will be temporary until the refitted 747's are available?
We are planning a MAN to MCO trip April 2012 and we would like to know what the plans are. The later MAN - MCO is currently a 747 but will this be changed to a 330?

Thanks for the TR

I also had my hands swabbed whilst going through security at SEA for my VX flight to SFO. This must be a newish procedure as I've only ever had my lap-top and/or other items in my bag swabbed before.

The lady in front of me did have her lap-top swabbed which she was a bit concerned about until I told her what it was they where actually doing.

At the moment, I believe the daily VS75/76 service is going op'ed using the new A333 with the VS73/74 (only running Fri, Sat, Tues, Wed) still using a 744.

My hands were swabbed too going through security in Orlando recently - have never seen it done elsewhere though.

Thank you for the TR.

BOLLINGER on VS?! I've never seen a bottle of that cracked open. It's my favourite and sorely missed since my EK travel has lapsed.

Dubaiification wrote:BOLLINGER on VS?!

Have never, ever seen it on any flight. The champagne should be Pannier at the moment. Could it just be a case of a bottle of it destined for another airline was loaded on VS by mistake by the caterers?

Great TR, thanks for posting.

I'm also really suprised to hear the parks were busy but glad you managed to make it on everything!

Tks for the trip report - Duvet was probably taken from the flight deck's crew rest

Tinkerbelle wrote:

Dubaiification wrote:BOLLINGER on VS?!

Have never, ever seen it on any flight. The champagne should be Pannier at the moment. Could it just be a case of a bottle of it destined for another airline was loaded on VS by mistake by the caterers?

I think that is exactly what happened here - a mistake by the caterers. All the other bottles of champagne were Pannier. The crew member was very surprised when she pulled out the Bollinger bottle, but was only too happy to open and serve it (and as previously mentioned, we felt obliged to sample it!) She did joke that she would leave the empty bottle on the back of the bar for all to see. This bottle sort of made up for the dropping of T10 Gin from the bar lineup...