Two things to say here:
1. Barry is awesome. Really found an awesome solution for me today. Didn’t get to say thanks earlier, so doing that now!
2. The solution was a plugin and it’s pretty great so I thought I’d share it here if other members are looking for something similar:
It’s the Admin Menu Editor
Check it out here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/admin-menu-editor/
Very early in development but totally compatible with wpmu (instructions are in the download).
I am building a very specific wpmu site and my users need a much more simplified menu structure in order to get started. I was able to rearrange each menu/submenu to exactly where I wanted them as well as add new menus and “hide” other ones – all through a nicely done drag-and-drop interface no less!
It works great with the “toggle admin menus” from DSader and I use them both as the Admin Menu Editor doesn’t really support separate menus for different user roles.
I’ve been working with my own admittedly weak hacks and was looking to create a unique plugin for this install figuring I’d have to reconfigure it each time a need like this came up, but this thing totally takes the cake!
Again, my deepest appreciation to Barry for pointing me in this direction. Hope this info helps others out there.