So- we tried the drain king last night. Didn't work. I think because the plug isn't completely plugging the pipe..it lets too much water by to build up pressure. Even putting a tennis ball over the suction hole doesn't create enough pressure.

We're hesitant to use the rope method now because we don't want to turn the pump on. The pressure from the pump might pull the plug closer to the pump or wedge it even tighter.

A thin coat hanger type wire won't even pass the plug because we can't see into the stinkin' pipe.

We dug to the line where it 90's to go to the pump last night. Today we'll cut it just before the 90 so we can have a straight shot at it. We'll use something rigid to cram into the pipe like 1" pvc.
We'll lubricate the pipe from the skimmer hole to the plug.
Any ideas on a type of lubricant? Something heavy that will sink and then I'll use a plugged piece of hose to push it to the plug.

My friend that's helping is a pipe fitter so he's doing everything he can without cutting the kook deck...
because that's gonna be a mess.

The good thing is- Once we get it out, we're already down to the spa and pop up jet pipes that don't work so if there's something stuck in a couple of them we can fix it while we're in there.