Anyone else seeing issue with iOS 8.3 update on iPad Mini 3?

I have an iPad Mini 3 and updated to iOS 8.3 ...

Once the initial download and update to iOS 8.3 occurred, the iPad came back up to the "Hello" screen, where it says "Update Completed .. Continue".

After going through the initial setup steps (WiFi, iCould sign in), it gets the screen saying "Welcome to iPad .. Get Started", at which point, it transitions to my Home screen for a split second before again putting up what I'll call the "Apple update screen" (the one with just the Logo and progress bar).

It never lets me back into the iPad -- instead it just loops back to the "Hello" screen.

I've tried plugging into iTunes...

I've tried power down reset...

I've tried "force" reset...

Nothing seems to break the loop.

I setup a support appointment at the nearby Apple Store... they tried everything again and basically told me that the only recourse is to perform a Restore using iTunes, wiping out any data I may have on the iPad (bummer!).

I was surprised there is no escalation policy for these types of things.

This is very clearly a bug in the new version of iOS 8.3, but because no one else seems to be reporting this, it may just "exist" and I'm stuck with an unusable iPad until I either

1) I wipe it and Restore it (not preferred)

2) Wait for the next iOS release and hope that it fixes this issue (not likely)

Anyone else out there seeing this?