We are in the backpack camp. I (dad) always have one, and occasionally mom will also have one. She has the nice camera, so if the camera goes into the park, mom usually carries it in a backpack, with me holding the rest (bottled water, ponchos/raincoats, autograph books, jackets if cool weather, etc.). To cut down on souvenir clutter, we often try to limit "big" purchases to DTD (World of Disney, etc.) if it makes sense...but if not, we try to take advantage of the park's ability to send purchases back to our resort, assuming you're staying on property and have enough time for them to get the stuff to your resort. Our kids are 9 and 12, so we keep threatening them that it's about time for them to start helping carry the load, but so far, we haven't truly wanted to put that burden on them. We just try to stop and give serious thought to whether we're really going to need something in the park or if we can live without it. We've also come to the realization that we're probably not going to eat our own snacks in the parks....as efficient as that sounds, we'd rather have Mickey bars, Citrus Swirls, etc., when we're in the parks, so we just pledge to exercise more when we get home and leave the fresh fruit at the resort!
