How to have GearVR play smooth during LoadLevelAsync

I'm having some serious challenges loading and transitioning between levels in GearVR using the Oculus Mobile SDK 0.6.0.1

My core scene takes about 30 seconds to load, so I designed an opening scene that loads in less than 3 seconds, figuring I'd use LoadLevelAsync in the background in order to buy time and seamlessly transition.

 Application.LoadLevelAsync ("MyBigLevel");

Problem is, as the new scene is loading, even if I give it a 10 second delay to catch up before making the call, the GearVR performance drops precipitously from 75fps to around 1 fps (yes, one frame per second).

Any insight is appreciated.