They still have individual bottles of toiletries as of our stay 2 weeks ago.
Regarding the DCA entrance first thing in the morning, we have always avoided it but we decided to try it a few times the last two trips (this Memorial Day weekend and again 2 weeks ago). It actually moves pretty quickly. We were on Paradise Pier and in Carsland before the folks came from the front entrance on the days we tried it. They did not do a rope walk, just opened the turnstiles a few minutes before park opening time. If someone has tons of bags, it can be slow since you are doing bag check and tickets very close to park opening (as opposed to the main entrance, where you clear the bag check where you enter DTD from GCH, then you line up at the turnstiles and wait for park opening). I would give it a try, especially if you can get down there quite early. We were never even that early (maybe 10 minutes prior to park opening) and got in just fine. We were in front of White Water Snacks in the line, and we were inside DCA in about 5 minutes, because I timed it. So you can always walk there and see how far back the line is before you decide about using that line versus the main lines.
Crowds were low during this time due to all of the SWGE stuff, so consider that as well.