Oh...and it would have done me good to read the comments on each steps above. Totally missed those and would have saved me some pain!

Wish I would have seen your comment before I went through it. Switched to a razor blade and that helped for sure. Thought about a hair dryer as well but stuck with the micro heating tool. Probably should have done the dryer. :-/

Yes...wear safety glasses for sure when doing this!

This process may be hard with an intact screen but a shattered screen makes it insane to attempt. Granted, this was my first time cracking open an iPad, or any iOS device for that matter, but this was tough. Definitely cover the screen in packing tape if it's shattered and use eye protection. The screen will continue to break and tiny gorilla shards can fly at your face. Took 80 mins just to remove the front panel. I didn't realize that the home button and camera bracket were included with the replacement screen from iFixit so I didn't need to do the last few steps.

Pro tip: Test the iPad just before removing the protective front/back covers and adhesive strips on the replacement screen. I was lucky with the ribbon cables working first time in, but I could imagine someone not having one seated just right, and they close it all up, seal it, then have to tear it back apart to fix a cable. :-/

Also found a guy at the local mall that would have fixed it with a new screen for $80. Rolling this way next time!