Jobseekers queue up at Disney's recruitment fair in Shanghai, hoping to land a role in the prestigious amusement park.[Photo/IC]

Companies typically screen seven applicants for every job, recruiting agencies said. This meant that Disney sorted through about 70,000 applications for Shanghai.

Back in 2012, Disney focused on filling 100 openings for highly skilled specialists in engineering, design and other fields to assist with construction. Two years later, Disney recruiters kicked off a campus roadshow to Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui and Henan to target talented students for management.

About 200 went on a two-month internship at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, training alongside Americans. They were all offered jobs with the Shanghai park after the internship.

Later that year, Disney began recruiting 1,000 performers from art schools and performing troupes as singers, dancers and musicians. During the University of Southern California's global conference in Shanghai in October, Iger said he met 1,000 Shanghai recruits who went to Florida.

"I detected not only a great enthusiasm and curiosity, but a real love of Disney, and that made me feel great," he said.

Disney organized job fairs to hire thousands of waiters, cooks, cleaners and costumed street performers. And the company cast a wide net, regardless of past experience, in hiring, Wong said.

"They had no limitations on experience or background, even people coming from a factory would be considered," she said. "What they wanted was the attitude: The friendly, open quality that would fit into their culture."