Yesterday The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) discussed its earnings for Q4 2021 and the fiscal full year ending 2 October 2021. During the call, Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Christine McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, touched on every area of the company including Disney+ and Parks and Resorts.

Disney+, the two-year-old streaming service, reported smaller than expected subscriber growth for the fourth quarter. Analysts were forecasting 119.6 million subscribers while Disney said they currently have 118.1 million subscribers globally. However, Chapek said they still expect to reach 230 to 260 million paid subscribers by 2024.

“This Friday, we will celebrate the 2-year anniversary of the launch of Disney+ with our first ever Disney+ Day of global, Company-wide celebration,” said Chapek. “We are enormously proud of all that we’ve accomplished with the service in just the first 2 years. It has exceeded our wildest expectations, and we are so excited for what’s to come.”

Moving on to Parks and Resorts, Chapek said that park revenues nearly doubled from last year. Disney stated that in the fourth quarter this past October, Disney Parks saw $5,450,000 in revenue. This same time last year, Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products reported $2,733,000 in revenue. This is a 99% change year over year. Although that was not unexpected, it was an encouraging sign that visitors are slowly returning to the parks.

Disney also stated that the parks division saw a $640 million profit for the fiscal year. The international parks posted a $222 million loss, which was offset by the domestic parks’ $244 million. Consumer products made up the bulk of the reported profits with a reported $618 million in profits.

Continuing with Parks and Resorts, Christine McCarthy stated that “Guest spending at our domestic parks also continued its strong trend, with per cap in the fourth quarter up nearly 30% versus fiscal 2019. Our forward-looking demand pipeline for domestic guests at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort remains strong, demonstrating our brand strength, as well as more normalized consumer behavior.”

McCarthy went on to say that fourth-quarter operating income – for Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, increased by $1.6 billion year-over-year. “A profitable fourth quarter at Parks and Experiences reflects our ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated McCarthy. “All of our sites were open for the entire quarter, although generally at reduced capacities. In the prior-year quarter, Shanghai Disney Resort was open for the entire quarter, while Disney World Resort and Disneyland Paris were open for approximately 12 weeks.

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort was open for approximately 4 weeks, and Disneyland Resort was closed for the entire quarter. Attendance trends continued to strengthen at our domestic parks, with Walt Disney World Q4 attendance up double-digits versus Q3, and Disneyland attendance continuing to strengthen significantly from its reopening in the third quarter.

Additionally, we’re looking forward to the return of international attendance at our domestic parks and resorts. However, keep in mind that due to longer vacation planning lead times, we don’t expect to see a substantial recovery in international attendance at our domestic parks until towards the end of fiscal 2022.”

After recently launching Genie+ at Walt Disney World this past October, (Disney Genie and Genie+ is expected to launch at the Disneyland Resort in the near future) Chapek said that the initial response to Genie+, the paid portion of Disney Genie, “has been extremely positive.” He reported that in the short time it has been available to guests, one-third of all guests have purchased the service. Chapek believes that demand for Disney Genie and Genie+ will be even stronger once it launches at Disneyland.

Disney Genie is complimentary to all guests. Upgrading to Genie+, which enables guests to make reservations at select attractions, costs guests $15 per person per day.

Although some revenue and guest spending have been up over last year, McCarthy said they were still looking for ways to reduce costs. “We can adjust suppliers, we can substitute products, we can cut portion size, which is probably good for some people’s waistlines,” stated McCarthy. “We can look at pricing where necessary, but we aren’t going to go straight across and increase prices. We’re really going to try to get the algorithm right to cut where we can and not necessarily do things the same way.”

Disney also stated that starting in 2022, as a result of renewed spending on the Disney Wish, other park projects and corporate initiatives, they will be increasing capital expenditures in the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products division. McCarthy said that “we also expect that while we continue to pursue strong cost mitigation efforts, certain costs will be elevated in fiscal ’22 versus pre-pandemic levels, including, for example, inflationary pressure on wages, costs related to new projects and initiatives such as Star Wars: Galaxy Edge, Avenger’s Campus, and the EPCOT expansion.”

McCarthy did not expand on what projects will see additional funding in the next couple of years. When Disney initially announced the expansion of EPCOT, the park was expected to see a massive overhaul. After the pandemic hit last year, some of those projects were put on hold or “postponed.”

It is unclear if any of these projects will get the green light once again, but those put on hold including a new Mary Poppins attraction at the UK Pavilion at EPCOT, the EPCOT Festival Center, the reimagining of Spaceship Earth, Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge, EPCOT Play Pavilion, among others.