Click the TV remote and presto, a Disney travel agent will call

Couch potatoes rejoice: Now there are even fewer reasons to put down the remote control.

Walt Disney Co. said this week that it is launching travel-focused, video-on-demand programming that would let some cable television subscribers push a button on their remote and within 15 minutes receive a call from a Disney reservation agent to book a vacation.

Disney's channel, called Travel on Demand, will be available to 9 million Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp. digital customers starting later this month.

The channel will include original programs, including reality shows, episodic programs, concerts and special events highlighting Disney's theme parks in California and Florida as well as its adventure travel business.

The shows will be offered free to viewers and will include interactive features, including the ability to request more information using buttons on the TV remote control.

The programs will reach more than 9 million people nationwide (the cable systems don't currently operate in the Seattle area).

Although the deals with Time Warner and Cablevision are structured differently, Disney will create the programming and pay the cable companies to air it.

If cablevision subscribers like what they see, they can use a remote control to trigger a phone call from a Disney travel agent within 15 minutes (although not in the middle of the night, said Disney).

In some ways, the Travel on Demand channel is a 21st century version of the 1950s "Disneyland" show on ABC that was hosted by Walt Disney and introduced viewers to the new Anaheim, Calif., theme park.

The programming will take people behind the scenes via four shows, with new episodes every three weeks. "Making the Magic" is an "American Idol"-like reality series that follows an entertainer in his quest to become an elite performer at Walt Disney World Resort. "Disney Fact or Fiction" will examine urban legends about Disney parks. On "Dream Makers," unsuspecting guests can win various Disney experiences; and "Disney Travel Insiders," hosted by Elisabeth Hasselbeck of "The View," will offer travel tips.

"One of the things that we always think about . . . is how innovative Walt was when he launched Disneyland and used what was then the high-tech and parent-savvy new media — which was television," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. "In many ways, this really continues on that tradition."

Cable systems are anxious to enable commerce using two-way connections, such as Disney's, and offer lots of video choices in part to keep viewers glued to their TV sets and away from the Internet.

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