No crossmembers to remove. Yes, you can do the pan and the converter separately. No problem with it sitting up in the front, when you drop the pan virtually the same amount will drain out regardless.
I guess most logical way would be to do the converter, then pull the pan drain, then the pan. As I remember, you get only 3-4 qts from a pan drain, and another 4 or more from the converter. I only do this about every two years, and I tend to forget a lot of details these days. But there are no big surprises, very straightforward once you find that darn convereter drain plug.

DG