Fun to watch the progress!
Regarding loosening the timing belt -- the primary method of course is to slacken the water pump and slip the belt off the various rotating components, yes.
It's also possible to remove the belt by leaving the water pump in position and removing either the cam sprocket or the idler roller. This can be done for the sake of variety or, in some specific situations, it can be advantageous for making a job more efficient.
(For example suppose you are wanting to only replace a crankshaft front main seal or oil pump gasket, yet you know the timing belt and water pump O-ring are recently new and do not need replacement and timing/tension are where they should be already and you wish to not disturb them: in this case you might save time on reassembly by leaving WP and cam sprocket in place, checking injection timing using dial indicator prior to reassembly, marking belt and sprockets, removing idler pulley, replacing the crankshaft area parts needed, then reassembling per marks and verifying timing returned exactly to where it had been. By doing it this way you skip all the steps of removing/replacing the valve cover to time the cam, removing/replacing/retiming the rear timing belt, setting front belt tension, removing/replacing water pump to change the O-ring due to its position having been disturbed.... etc.)
The reason I say "preferred" method is that once you're accustomed to doing it a particular way you might continue, even if there's no specific advantage. For example I am accustomed to removing the cam pulley first (after setting TDC of course) and using that method to remove the belt. Why? I guess I like it a little better because it allows me to first remove the belt and a few other components (crank gear and dampener, most of the tin shields etc) before letting loose an antifreeze shower when the WP is freed up. Fewer things to have to wash.
