All airlines start to build their seatmaps about a week out from the departure date, so in that respect 100% of seats are pre-allocated. The check-in process (whether it be online or at the desk) is merely to confirm this pre-allocation. If the customer does not object, the previously allocated seats are not changed. If the customer does object, the check-in process will attempt to satisfy them. This is more easily done at the desk because the agent has the ability to move other passengers to make room, which the online check-in process does not.
Access to the internet isn't really an issue, then, because the airline already has pretty much all the info it needs. All airlines build their seatmaps based on various rules. These vary from company to company of course, but almost all will take into account things like seat preferences of frequent travellers, disabled/restrictive movement passengers, family groups (which they infer from common surnames and single booking codes), younger passengers seated next to responsible adults travelling in the same group, etc. These programs are quite sophisicated and most passengers will not object to the seat they have been allocated. Some will however, for various reasons, and these will (if possible) be changed at check-in. But the airlines are under no obligation (other than minor with responsible adult) to guarantee you any kind of seating arrangement.
In many respects building a decent seatmap is easier for Virgin than it is for other carriers. Virgin is primarily a non-business carrier, which means most of its aircraft (especially on routes like London-Orlando) will have been sold out many months before, so they have all the info they need. Airlines which are primarily business airlines, and routes like London-Washington or Lond-New York, face the prospect of a businessman buying a last-minute ticket the day before the flight who then needs to be accommodated. Generally Virgin don't get that kind of last-minute passenger.
The concept of an airline simply refusing to allocate 40% of the seats on an aircraft until check-in (ie 2-3 hours before take-off) therefore just doesn't make sense. There's absolutely no reason for them to do that, and lots of reasons for them not to do it...they don't want to be shuffling almost half the aircraft around in the last few hours before take-off. Even for today's powerful and sophisticated systems, re-accommodation is an extremely complex process, and one to be avoided if at all possible (generally only done if an aircraft fails and passengers need to be moved to another aircraft with a different seat arrangement).
Virgin (and others I am sure) might well tell you that they hold back seats for family groups, because that makes them sound like a family-frindly airline and especially on the Orlando route that's what they are trying to project. But in pure business operational terms I doubt very very much whether that's true. Their check-in staff might well be more amendable to trying to move you around if you want to sit together as a family, but that's all.
However I am sure the OP has nothing to worry about, and will end up sitting with the rest of her group, so just enjoy the build-up to the holiday and forget about it :-)
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