[redgt00]

Just an update for anyone reading this in the future:

ALWAYS DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL FROM THE BATTERY FIRST.

I didn't even fully disconnect the positive cable. I disconnected another cable running to the positive side. I was a bit confused obviously, but the car shut down so I thought I was good to go.

I ended up towing the car to BMW. Their tech was able to tap into the wiring somewhere and release the latch to the trunk for the small fee of $222

As an added bonus, I apparently broke the coolant line that comes off the coolant reservoir. It sounds like these break all the time. Prop to BMW sarasota for being straight up with me and telling me I could fix that myself. Quote from them would have been around $400. I got the part for $40 and paid to tow the car back home.

All in all I'm calling this a win. I was out about $450 for the tows, VCG, coolant hose and labor for BMW to open the trunk. Still cheaper than paying them to do my VCG lol.