When we flew from bristol 2 years ago we stopped but as i said before no one could get off we were actually served orange juice and muffin while they refueled.
we are flying again from Bristol in 29 days.
We chose Bristol again because we only live 20/25mins away and it worked out cheaper than going to Gatwick with petrol, parking , overnight stay and the LONG drive back.
Have a great time & can you let us know if the flight stops or not

I've had a look at prices for flight only with First Choice for Aug 10 & they are pretty similar to what we paid Virgin this year but like you said no petrol, parking, overnight stay and the LONG Long drive back.