I know I know, I have talked about the ‘perfect’ travel ear cases forever and keep reintroducing new ones, but I think I have finally discovered THE one.
You all know how I feel about my PARC bag, but one, there is a lot of wasted real estate that I do not use (pin board and a really deep pocket that is hard to get your hand into) and two living where there is high humidity, I am just starting to notice the bag peeling (granted I have had this FOREVER), but once it really starts looking bad, I will end up not using it at all. I also love the ThisDFLove ones, and have a couple (seen HERE), but they are REALLY cumbersome and with a lot of luggage they are not easy to travel with at all. But, you can safely put it into the car and not worry about it getting banged around and ears getting destroyed. Plus, it does have clips to add a strap which is a nice edition.
I love my Stoney Clover large pouch (featured HERE), but more often than not, I end up having to carry this separate (and put it by my feet in the car) or in a tote with not a lot of stuff in it, since it is not structured and if I am taking ears that have delicate/fragile parts to them, I do not want to risk them being destroyed even if this amazing pouch does hold a bunch of ears without being cumbersome (of all my cases, this was/is a favorite). I will still use it because I love it, but only when we are just taking bow ears and nothing else since I can throw it in a bag and not worry about it since structured or not everything remains undamaged. It tends to still need to be at arms length in the car since our magicbands are in it and we go into the parks before checking in so we need our bands for parking purposes.
Lets just be honest, I am a sucker for a good ear case that can hold multiple pairs of ears amongst other trinkets such as bows, clips, magicbands, etc. I do not need it for anything else, so I am not in the market for one that can do multiple things like host pins (having a pin board is unnecessary to me in a bag) and other typical Disney items that some people bring. If these bags work better for you and your Disney visiting lifestyle, that is awesome. For me, it was just taking up space for things that I bring more on the regular.
I was on Google looking for something different because of all the aforementioned reasons and because lets be honest, I am glutton for ear cases and all things travel related that will make Disney packing easier. I typed in ‘ear travel case’ and a individual’s Mercari showed up (which I will not be linking), where they were selling hard-shelled cases as ear travel cases for around $45. Now I will say that they came in all sorts of beautiful vibrant colors, looked like they were a great size and honestly for $45, I thought it was VERY reasonable (I am not sure how much shipping was). However, they are marketing them as Disney ear travel cases. To ME, they looked like hard-shell makeup/cosmetic cases (I am sure she buys them in bulk for resell purposes) that you could purchase in TJMaxx or someplace of the like. Orrrrr you can be like me and do a deep dive onto Amazon (searching ‘hard shelled cosmetic travel case’) where you will find a whole slew of similar ones HERE.
After a pretty big search I did not find a lot of ones on Amazon that had the amazing color selection that the Mercari listing had, so if you were looking for a VERY specific color this might be a better option and I still think they were a reasonable choice for the price (I kinda wish I had thought of this lol). Especially since on Amazon, they were not much cheaper ($30-50). Is it just me or does it appear that Amazon is not once the bargain place to shop that it once was.
However I did find THIS one. It is a beautiful rose-gold, I loved that it was more of a rectangle than a square (extra space means extra ears), it had the strap on the back that can go over your suitcase handles (the ultimate edition if you ask me), and there was a zipper internal pocket (on the opposite side) on the inside for other things. This would be a perfect place for your trading items, delicate purchases that you might have made that are smaller and will be protected in the hard shell case, or if you are one of those Disney peeps that rock nuimos or shoulder characters this would be the place to store them safely. The only downside is that there were no clips to put a strap on if you wanted too. I am sure if you are a DIY’er you could get adhesive clips and attach them to the bag so that you can do so, but I am just not sure how great that would look if you are an aesthetic person. Plus, the one I purchased is ridged so I do not think the adhesive would stay for an extended amount of time.
I will show you how I used the zipper side in a second, which worked out incredible as NONE of my carrying cases held this particular item (building the suspense) as nicely and carefully as this case did. I ended up paying around $27 for mine, but when I purchased one and went back to take a look at it again (I do this a lot), there was now a $5 off coupon that could be added. Now, in hindsight I could have canceled my order and rebought with the coupon, but in typical Dana fashion, I went ahead and bought the black and silver as well. I use a Revlon hot air brush and I hate just dropping it in my bag when I travel, so I thought this would work for that and my other hair stuff. I often just bring the regular sizes of my hair items (dry shampoo, leave-in conditioner, etc.) because it is easier and now I will not have to worry about anything opening up and getting all over everything. Anywho, we all know that Amazon prices can fluctuate and these were such a great deal I wanted to grab them while I could. See how I convince myself to purchase multiple of said items. Especially, since the other hard shell cosmetic bags I was finding were about ten dollars more and not quite the size I was looking for.
The zippered mesh pocket I use for an ear lanyard. This clips onto backpacks or purses and two Minnie ears can be clipped on and then clipped onto your backpack. I love this if I’m starting to get a headache or am just bored with wearing them and I don’t have to worry about them getting smooshed in the stroller. I also have two bow choices that I wear with my Mickey ear hat that I keep in this mesh pocket as well.
If you are a lover of the old school Mickey ear hats as we are, the zippered side is nothing short of perfection to hold them. Absolutely nothing has happened to these even with the numerous ears and items that are in the opposite side.
This is not to say that the other cases I have are not still perfect or beautiful to travel with, but the reality is that I basically paid for three, what I paid for one of the others (once you factor in shipping). With how we travel now and staying at the different Disney resorts that sometimes do not have trolley’s by the room, maximizing the bags we are bringing so that we are not making multiple trips to the car has become a new passion of mine (reinventing easier packing is a whole new love language). It never mattered before because we have the car and where we were staying had only one building and a valet of sorts.
I think I may have done it folks. I think I may have found the ultimate ear travel case, especially for those that ACTUALLY travel to Disney by plane and such. If your kiddos are of the age where they are traveling with their own suitcase too, this is not only the perfect size, but so very lightweight that you can slip it onto their suitcase case handles and they can just rock it to the gate and onto the plane. EV loved having an extra addition to her bag as it felt very grownup for her to be pushing her own bags to our hotel room (we stayed at the Art of Animation this time around) and it wasn’t so cumbersome that she gave up and she has a tendency to do (huzzah for swivel luggage).
What do you think?! Do you use an unconventional item to travel with your special Disney items (pins, ears, hats, etc.)? I am not sure I even want to ask this for the fear I purchase something else that becomes my ‘new favorite’.
