My Mom came up with a wonderful idea prior to our trip in October. She told my kids that all of the cast members were actually working for Mickey Mouse and watching to make sure that all of the children behaved. She told them that if they acted very badly, when we got home, they'd receive a letter from Mickey saying that they wouldn't be invited back to WDW for 15 years. My kids did NOT want THAT letter. If they started to slip, I'd remind them that the cast members were keeping an eye on them for Mickey and they'd usually snap out of it.
Another thing that worked is they didn't want for me to bring any bad reports back for my mother, their Baboushka (Russian for Grandmother.) If they started being stubborn, or pouty about something, I'd take out the camera to take a picture of them acting up for Baboushka to see. Our DS would snap to attention with a big smile on his face.
The only bad time we had, that I actually took a crabby picture was after we went on Kali River Rapids. DS and I got soaked... beyond soaked. DD was angry because she barely got wet. She crossed her arms in front of her and put her head down and wouldn't move. After I snapped her picture, she made me promise that if she was good for the rest of the day, I wouldn't show the picture to Baboushka. I promised and she was good.
Another thing that worked is they didn't want for me to bring any bad reports back for my mother, their Baboushka (Russian for Grandmother.) If they started being stubborn, or pouty about something, I'd take out the camera to take a picture of them acting up for Baboushka to see. Our DS would snap to attention with a big smile on his face.
The only bad time we had, that I actually took a crabby picture was after we went on Kali River Rapids. DS and I got soaked... beyond soaked. DD was angry because she barely got wet. She crossed her arms in front of her and put her head down and wouldn't move. After I snapped her picture, she made me promise that if she was good for the rest of the day, I wouldn't show the picture to Baboushka. I promised and she was good.