When the Tanner family set out for their Hawaiian adventure in the season 3 premiere of "Full House," it was supposed to be a perfect working vacation. However, Andrea Barber, who played Kimmy Gibbler, almost missed the trip. "I was originally supposed to be in this episode," Barber recalled on the June 18 episode of the "How Rude, Tanneritos!" podcast. "The night before we were to depart for Hawaii, a producer called up and said, ‘The episode is too long.
We have to cut Kimmy out.’"
Despite being cut from the episode, Barber received an unexpected invitation: "We already bought the tickets, we already have your hotel room reserved. Please come with us anyway and just hang out by the pool." To which Barber enthusiastically agreed, "And I was like, ‘Yes!’"
For the rest of the cast and crew, the trip was anything but relaxing. "No sitcom should ever leave the stage," Jodie Sweetin, who played Stephanie Tanner, revealed. "It’s always a disaster. We are a very well-oiled machine inside of a soundstage, and you take us out and … things go wrong."
One of the first mishaps occurred when series creator Jeff Franklin injured his Achilles tendon playing tennis, rendering him wheelchair-bound and heavily medicated for the duration of the shoot.
"So he was now in a wheelchair and on copious amounts of pain meds the whole time," Sweetin recounted.
On another occasion, miscommunication led the cast to one beach while the crew was at another. "And those two beaches were not anywhere near each other," Sweetin added, highlighting the logistical nightmares that plagued the production.
Filming in a new location often comes with its own set of rituals. Sweetin noted that some productions bless the filming locations before starting work. "If I remember right, we didn’t do it," she shared, speculating that perhaps the lack of a blessing—or the cast’s irreverence during it—could have brought bad karma. "Maybe Bob [Saget] and Dave [Coulier] weren’t taking it seriously enough, and they were cracking inappropriate jokes during a serious ritual, and then karma," she said with a laugh.
Despite the hurdles, Sweetin fondly remembered the trip, especially filming with dolphins. "It was one of the most exciting moments of my life as a 7-year-old actress," she recalled. "I was 100 percent ready to jump right in. You can see from the gigantic smile plastered on my face [in the episode]."
However, not all memories were as joyous.
Sweetin also recalled being "hopped up on Dramamine" for a boat scene. "One thing about Dramamine is it knocks you out," she explained. "If you look at Michelle [Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen] in the entire scene, she’s wearing that life jacket, but she’s just leaned up against the table. She is 100 percent asleep."
Despite the chaos, Barber reminisced about the fun times they had, including trips to the Dole Plantation and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial with their families. "We had so much fun," she said.
In the end, Sweetin cherished the experience: "It was one of the first times that we all got to travel together as a group, and I loved it." The Hawaii episode, with all its behind-the-scenes drama, remains a memorable adventure for the cast and fans alike.
