colbybug-
I can totally relate! I have an 11DD, 6DS and 2DD and we travel often, twice to Disneyworld in Florida- a 5-5 1/2 hour flight not counting all the waiting in the airports. UGH!! We also drive 8 hours to my dear inlaws several times a year.
What I do is buy several small age appropriate toys, books and snacks/candies for each of my children and wrap them separately in different colored wrapping paper for each child (that way I know what goes to who without having to worry about name tags). I usually buy a gift for each hour of travel and each hour (less or more time depending on your child and age) I let them open one. When they get down to the last surprise they know that we are almost at our destination. It has really helped cut down and almost eliminate the "Are we there yet?".
Examples of some items I have given my children: small books, coloring books with crayons (Crayola makes a line called Color Wonder where the markers only color on their special paper or coloring books- GREAT STUFF so you don't have to worry about marking on clothes or upholstry), small figurines, actions figures, key chains of their favorite characters, small stuffed animals, candy, etc.
If possible, I try to find things that relate to and that the kids can use for our trip. For our upcoming DL trip later this week, I have a couple of Disney wallets (with a few Disney Dollars already tucked inside, of course
) and a new Radio Disney CD for my older kids, Disney Chapsticks that I found at our Costco a few months ago, small personal handheld Disney fans from the
Disney store, small Disney word search and crossword puzzles book from
Walmart and different snacks/candies. I always seem to have great luck finding a large variety of age appropriate Disney stuff at my local Walmart that don't cost alot.
If you have a portable DVD player, you could get their favorite Disney movie and let them watch it. While we don't have one, I see them frequently at the airports and the kids seem to be pretty occupied with it, for a while at least.
Best of luck to you and have a great trip. We'll be following you soon as we leave for
Disneyland Wednesday night and will be in the parks Thursday-Sunday.
