What do you carry and what is it in?

[Lovetherodent]

I'm paring down the load as much as possible, but I still need to carry something big enough to hold the water (about a 2 quart container), some sunscreen, sunglasses, camera, and a few incidentals. Do you all go with a backpack (how big), a bag, a stroller even though your kids are way past that age?

 

[canwegosoon]

I have kids carry one small (1/2) size back pack. I keep one Brita water bottle in it, a few snacks, and a toy for each child, and I carry a string purse that I keep the room keys, camera, etc in. That's it..but we go in Feb/March...not summer when you might also need a fan, more water etc.

 

[tp_magill]

My wife and I have it pared down to what we think is the best combination:

We each have a small fanny pack, plus we carry a daypack.

Each person's pack has their own stuff (tissues, meds, sunglasses, dried fruit, ID, etc) plus a water bottle. We can spin them around to board rides, or carry them in the back where it's more comfortable. And by having one each, we keep them small and light, plus there's no "Honey, can I have..."

The daypack keeps things we want at the park, but not on our person. Jackets, change of T-shirt, camera... like that. We check it into a locker when we arrive at the park, and go back when we want it.

For instance, we may want the camera just for this parade, or that event... we go back THEN and get it, but don't carry it the rest of the time. Saves weight, don't have to worry about damage to the camera.

We also have a small soft-sided cooler (six-pack sized). We pack a couple of sodas or water apiece in their when we leave the hotel, and that gives us a cool break partway through the day. We also pack extra snacks. Snacking from out fanny packs lets US decide when and where to have meals, which saves on the $$.

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

All I carry is a small camera bag. It's slightly larger than my camera so I can fit my ID, chapstick, band-aids, money, and assorted meds in addition to the camera. I usually wear it messenger style (i.e. diagonally across my torso).

 

[decker96]

We had a small diaper bag on our last trip because DS2 was still in diapers. It had diapers, snacks and sippy cups with water for the kids. DH also carried a fanny pack with our ID's, room keys, money, credit cards, chapstick and sunglasses when we were indoors. That way we could just leave the diaper bag in the stroller when on attractions so we didn't have to carry it around. We put sunscreen on in the morning and then reapplied after our afternoon break before going back to the parks. But none of us are fair-skinned and we were there in Nov., so we didn't need to take it with us to reapply during the day. DH and I brought our resort mugs and refilled them with water from the drinking fountains. I suppose once we don't need the stoller anymore we will have to bring a backpack or something!!