Do you remember Disney’s “Earffel Tower” at Walt Disney World? It was a faux water tower that once stood as the park icon for Disney’s Hollywood Studios (or Disney-MGM Studios). The name “Earffel” is a pun on Paris’ Eiffel Tower. It was cleverly adorned with a set of Mickey Mouse ears, and inspired by the real water tower located at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
Water towers were commonly found on Hollywood studio backlots in the early 1900s, as they were a key safety measure for highly-flammable wooden movie sets. This Mickey eared-tower was a natural park icon amongst the many sets and soundstages of the Florida studios theme park.
— 1993 guide map including the Earffel Tower
Disney even dressed it up for various holidays, including adding a Santa hat for Christmas!
— Image: Disney Wiki
Alas, Hollywood Studios has evolved over time, slowly moving away from the theme of moviemaking magic. The Hollywood Backlot Tour was removed from the attraction lineup in 2014, which was where you could best see the Earffel Tower (and a smaller topiary version!).
A few years later in 2016, the tower itself was removed in preparation for Toy Story Land. Today, Slinky Dog Dash is where the Earfful Tower once stood. (Wouldn’t a tiny toy set version of the tower be adorable somewhere in the land?!)
Where Can You Still Find the Earffel Tower Today?
While the actual water tower is long gone, I’ve discovered three separate images of the old park icon that live on at Disney’s Hollywood Studios today. Have you seen them? Or better yet, do you know of any more spots we could find it?
The first one can be seen on a plaque atop the shop facade of Keystone Clothiers on Hollywood Boulevard.
We’ve got the Chinese Theater (RIP Great Movie Ride, not a day goes by where I don’t think of you) AND the Earffel Tower. We just need the Hollywood Tower Hotel and old Sorcerer Hat to have a proper representation of the park’s four separate park icons!
This same image is also located on the directional sign leading to the Beauty & the Beast show near Theater of the Stars on Sunset Boulevard.
Lastly, the little tower can be also seen on the Hollywood Studios mural above the menus inside the ABC Commissary:
What’s even better is Disney has recently recognized just how iconic this tower is to longtime fans, and has is currently selling merchandise featuring the Earffel Tower, exclusively at Hollywood Studios.
Any time I find a stray piece of the movie magic theme park from my childhood, I just want to stop and stare… much like Cameron stares at that one pointillism painting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:
— Please, please, please, let me get what I want
…Thank you for humoring me. Were you a fan of the Earffel Tower? See if you can spot these on your next WDW trip!
