"The 480p workaround wouldn't make any difference with Wii games picture quality, older Wii games can only be run in SD. 
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Agreed. That confirms my suspicion and it totally makes sense.
I also misstated that I was connected via HDMI in 480 resolution mode. The only way I am able to get to the Wii menu is if I go through component cables in 480 resolution. I had forgotten that I was connecting both Component and HDMI at the same time to my receiver. My Receiver is smart enough to sense which input device was active automatically. So I'm only able to get away with this workaround because I'm using a receiver. Others may not be able to do this.
This seems rather disappointing and frustrating that I can't use the Wii-U complete functionality with HDMI connections.
I called Tech Support this evening to try and get the support person to report this issue to the development team. My hope is to get them to provide some idea of whether or not they intend to address this. Those types of questions typically can't be answered by 1st tier support.
Speaking of 1st tier support, I had a really negative experience with the Tech Support person (she obviously was having a very bad evening and was very terse with me from the start of the call). She did record my request in reference 140 107-005257 after much unnecessary "bickering". But then she refused to even answer a simple question I had about Parental Controls. Instead she threw me back into the queue to be picked up by another Tech! I was actually grateful as the next person who answered my call was cheerful and happy to provide the assistance I needed.
This one bad experience seems pretty a-typical from what I have gotten from my other two support calls.
Sorry I'm not attempting to hijack this thread. The original poster has a valid issue which still appears to be an issue 3 months later.