The Earffel Tower is a faux

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

located at

Walt Disney Studios Park Walt Disney Studios Park ( French: ''Parc Walt Disney Studios'') is the second of two theme parks built at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. The park opened on 16 March 2002, and it is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company t ...

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Marne-la-Vallée, France, located about east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, seven Disney-owned hotels, two convention centers, a golf course, an arena, and a shopping, dining and entert ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

, and formerly at

Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Br ...

at the

Walt Disney World Resort The Walt Disney World Resort is an entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Walt Disney Company. ...

Bay Lake, Florida Bay Lake is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29 at the 2020 census. It is named after a lake that lies east of Magic Kingdom. All four of the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, and one of Walt Disney Worl ...

, near

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

. Adorned with a set of

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

ears, it is inspired by the real water tower located at the Walt Disney Studios in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. A pun on the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

, it is based on water towers commonly found on Hollywood studio

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

s of the first half of the 1900s, which were originally a safety measure to douse fires on highly flammable wooden film sets. However, the Earffel Tower has never contained water. The first, 130-foot tower was located in the

Studio Backlot Tour The Studio Backlot Tour was an attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It was a combination of a walking and tram tour of the backlot area of the park. Originally the park's premie ...

area of

, known as Disney-MGM Studios when the park opened in 1989. It was the park's original icon, with

The Great Movie Ride The Great Movie Ride was a dark ride located at Disney MGM Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, United States. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, the attraction employed the use of Audio-Animatronic figures, practic ...

—a life-size replica of

Grauman's Chinese Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre, known as the Chinese colloquially and officially billed as TCL Chinese Theatre for sponsorship reasons, is a movie palace on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, Unite ...

—serving as the visual centerpiece. Both were displaced from icon status by the

Sorcerer's Hat The Sorcerer's Hat was a structure and the thematic icon of Disney's Hollywood Studios, the third of four theme parks built at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, from 2001 to 2015. The structure was inspired by '' The Sorcerer's ...

, which stood in the park's central hub from 2001 until its removal in 2015. The Earffel Tower was removed itself on April 29, 2016, to facilitate the construction of

Toy Story Land ''Toy Story'' Land (known as ''Toy Story'' Playland at Walt Disney Studios Park) is a themed land at Walt Disney Studios Park, Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, and Disney's Hollywood Studios. The area is based on the Disney·Pixar f ...

. Since then, the Hollywood Tower Hotel has been the representative icon in marketing, with the Chinese Theatre (which now houses

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway is a trackless dark ride located in the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, and in Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. The attraction, the first Mickey Mouse-themed ride-through attraction at ...

) restored as the centerpiece. The second, 108-foot tower at

debuted in 2002 and has served as the park's icon ever since.

References

{{Walt Disney Studios Park Disney's Hollywood Studios Walt Disney Parks and Resorts icons Water towers in Florida Front Lot Walt Disney Studios Park Streets of America Towers completed in 1989 Towers completed in 2002 1989 establishments in Florida 2016 disestablishments in Florida Buildings and structures demolished in 2016 Demolished buildings and structures in Florida

See also

References