It probably wasn't full power, but it was certainly more than other recent flights I've been on,which is why I noticed it.
As for the delay at the end, I suspect we just brought Murphy along with us and he applied his law because we'd just had the daft fanfare when we stopped and waited a few minutes. In compensation, we did get the gate closest to the terminal so there was less walking to do. It was the new shed at north end of STN, so it's fairly recent investment. We obviously arrived about the time someone else pushed back and had to be disconnected from the tug and run his engines up before getting out of the way.