LGW - MCO with a 2.5 year old! HELP!

Hi all, i'm booked to go with Virgin flying LGW to MCO on OCT 8th 2005, my question is what entertainment system am i likely to get on that flight? I flew to Tenerife last year and my daughter fell ill inflight and we had to have an emergency landing.....[n] but the return leg was fine...but she was a little bored and played up....not surprising as the tele's are so far away.

If i get some Nintendo games then i will be happier cos she would be able to be occupied..............can anybody help with my quiery? I have looked but it says the Nova system but i'm sure there was a rumour of the IFE being upgraded?

Hi Sonic,

I sypathise with your plight - we are heading to MCO in April with our 2.75 year old and am hoping for a few distractions. Not too sure she is old enough for games yet though - maybe another year.

To summarise the situation with LGW a/c - they have all been upgraded from Nova to Nova+ - but this upgrade has only added additional TV and film channels and Nova+ will remain without games. Movie/TV/Audio will change from 7/1/14 to 11/6/14 - 2 movie channels will be kids films.

Hope this helps.

Phil (Buffy)

[8D]Thanks for the reply mate, and thanks for the info.

I know will be ok (the flight) as Nanny and Grandad willl be there for her as well. As for the games.......they were for me[:(]:D

The kiddies rucksack is full of goodies for them, i am taking my 6 year old nephew to Orlando in November and have been a bit sly, i bought him a Gameboy for crimbo so he can take that.

I would be inclined to try and tire em out a bit for the flight so they fall asleep about halfway.

from what I have seen in previous flights the flight attendants are very good to kids.

quote:Originally posted by easygoingeezer
I would be inclined to try and tire em out a bit for the flight so they fall asleep about halfway.

No chance of that with the flight leaving at 11:15.

We're planning on dragging ours out of bed at 5am after a late night.

Phil (Buffy)

[fozzyo]

I think this is one of the many areas Virgin excel at, whenever I have flown the crew have always been fantastic at looking after the smaller travellers on the plane. They are also very good at looking after the grown-ups the kids bring with them too.

Foz )

quote:Originally posted by BuffyTVS65

quote:Originally posted by easygoingeezer
I would be inclined to try and tire em out a bit for the flight so they fall asleep about halfway.

No chance of that with the flight leaving at 11:15.

We're planning on dragging ours out of bed at 5am after a late night.

Phil (Buffy)

Make sure they don't drink too much on the all night bender - it will only make them dehydrated and worsen the jet lag;)


99

[Scrooge]

Put vodka in their milk..knocks right out...so i've been told [:0]


Good luck...I only had to do one long haul with a small kid in tow...never again

quote:Originally posted by jetwet1
Put vodka in their milk..knocks right out...so i've been told [:0]


Good luck...I only had to do one long haul with a small kid in tow...never again

The vodka's a good idea [}:)]

Actually the two year old has already made two trips to Orlando and 1 to Vietnam so that side of it is less of a problem. The big unknown this time is how we'll manage with her and her 3 month old brother .

If anybody is on VS27 on 23/4 and see's two extremely tired adults with a toddler and a baby drop by and say hi - we'll probably appreciate it by then. Will make for a couple of interesting trip reports though. All I can say is thank goodness I can use the UC check-in.

Phil (Buffy)

Vodka sounds a great idea[y]

I have booked my Virgin flight through Lunn Poly, so how do i go about choosing my seats and finding out about upgrading to premium economy then?

Hi Everyone

Good luck on your MCO flights - I have just got back (on Saturday) from MCO with my 2 little horrors - we make the trip twice a year so they are pretty good on the flights as they know the score so to speak. Also I always keep a bottle of "legal knock-out juice" in my hand luggage. It's called Phenergan - I give this to my daughter to combat travel sickness but on the bottle it has the dosage instructions for it to be used as a mild sedative. It can be useful for a lively 2 year old to be "calmed" slightly

Good luck

Pippa

quote:Originally posted by Burridges
Also I always keep a bottle of "legal knock-out juice" in my hand luggage. It's called Phenergan - I give this to my daughter to combat travel sickness but on the bottle it has the dosage instructions for it to be used as a mild sedative. It can be useful for a lively 2 year old to be "calmed" slightly

It does sound appealing Pippa - I might pick some up to use if ours gets too exciteable, although I do hate the idea of drugging her if not necessary - maybe I'll try it out on the wife

A word of warning though to other potential users. Side effects are rare but can be serious, especially at 30,000 feet so if anyone does feel compelled to use it - try it out one evening before you get on a plane to ensure it and your little'un are compatible.

Interesting one of the side effects listed here is "Unnaturally Good Mood" - if that's a side effect then give me the bottle - gotta be cheaper than 20yr old Brandy

Phil (Buffy)

I tell you all whats going through my mind.....what happens if she starts crying and being noisey...will everybody be p*ssed off? what will people think..........i know its stupid but i can't get those thoughts outta my head and its putting a dampener on my first Virgin flight[:(]

I wouldn't worry. We took our twin daughters to MCO when they were 2.5yrs. We were worried how they would be on the flight but they were fantastic. Take a rucksack with small toys (drawing pads,character cards,sticker books etc.) and bring out a new item every hour or so.

The experience was so good we took them again 18 months later. VS touches like twilight check in, the V-Kid pack and dedicated kids channels make it very easy to keep them happy.

MCO is a great flight anyway as most pax are families and will be sympathetic as long as they see you making an effort to calm/entertain the child.

DD

We've tried Phernegan (or however it's spelt), and my brother in law who's medical whizz (OBE and all that) in this area suggested not only trying it out before hand, but also to try with several lower than recommended dosages over several nights and go for the lowest dosage that has the desired effect. Theory apparently being always go for the minimum amount of anything that works.

He also pointed out that drugs like phernegan occassionally have the effect of the child waking up much more cranky than they would have otherwise - another good reason to plan ahead...

That said, our two 3.5 year olds travelled to sydney last year with only a 3 hr break in singapore, and with help of Aunty Glaxos Sleeping Elixir slept perfectly each way.

You pays yer money....

Viz.

[Decker]

Well Sonic I'm sure you were childless once. So put yourself into that mindset. You're in a confined space at 30,000 ft and a toddler kicks off on one. Would you think "Oh that'll break the monotony - cool"? OR would you throw daggers at a parent who oblivious continued listening to their IFE and cranked it up a notch?

As a non-parent if a child kicks off and the parent is trying to control then they have my sympathy. We were all that age once. If they view their fellow pax/FAs as surrogate babysitters and ignore the problem then they don't.

You definitely sound as though you fit into the former category so I wouldn't worry myself!

[Nottingham Nick]

Joining this debate a little late[:I]

When Nick Jnr. was a lot younger and too young for a Gameboy, we found that story tapes were a great distraction. Back then they were on a tape walkman[:o)] but now, it is dead easy to download a few of her favourite stories onto an iPod and hopefully the familiarity of the stories will help to distract her.

Nick

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by sonic
I tell you all whats going through my mind.....what happens if she starts crying and being noisey...will everybody be p*ssed off? what will people think..........i know its stupid but i can't get those thoughts outta my head and its putting a dampener on my first Virgin flight[:(]

I remember my first VS flight, I didn't earn any miles as it was booked on a CO codeshare [:(!] But you're doing better than me as you appear to be a Flying Club Gold member already! It took me 3 years to get to that level!

Thansk,
Richard

I agree with Decker on this one. The first time we flew to MCO we had a 2 and 3 year old in tow. After about 3.5 hours we managed to get them both to sleep - heaven! The only problem was that behind us were a family with a toddler. All through the flight he had been allowed to pull and kick our seats and stand on his parents lap so that he could look at our children over the top of our seats. That was bad enough but once our kids were asleep he kept coming round to our seats and prodding them to wake them up because he wanted to play with them. The parents did nothing - I suppose it kept him amused and gave them a peaceful time. In the end we had to ask them to keep him away. It's the inconsiderate parents that are the problem not the children.

Sonic, the very fact that you are posting on this forum and asking the questions shows that you are obviously one of the considerate parents. I wouldn't worry about it too much - you will be surrounded by people in the same situation as yourselves and I'm sure that your daughter will pleasantly surprise you. As DylanDog says take plenty of things to keep her amused and also some of her favourite snacks.

By the way most chemists will not sell you Phenergan unless you tell them that it is for travel sickness.