When they sell a
DVC resort, Disney retains 4% of the rooms under its own ownership to rent out to cash customers. This inventory is kept completely separate from points inventory and is not available for DVC members to book.
Also, when a DVC member uses points to stay in a non-DVC Disney resort or to take a
DCL cruise, essentially DVC is trading a theoretical reservation using that number of points to Disney. Disney then turns around and adds that reservation to thier inventory for cash customers.
So, you have the 4% plus all the trade-out availability that is for cash customers. At two months out, all remaining availability on points is also opened up to cash customers, although most times of year there likely isn't much, if any.
DVC members basically have 90%+ of the resorts at any given time, so it's really never an issue to get locked out by cash customers. The way the sales are done, by law DVC can only sell so many points in a resort. This is to ensure availability to owners, including Disney (they are DVC owners of 4% of each resort).
The real competition is between members for reservations during high-demand periods (typically Disney high-demand periods, but also other low-points periods like early December). Most members find making plans early and using their 11-month reservation window will get them just about anything they want any time of year. Owners also have a 7-month reservation window at DVC resorts they don't own and aside from some holiday periods and certain room types, can almost always get a reservation then as well. Even with shorter planning periods, you can almost always get something somewhere at a DVC resort. You may not get the exact dates, room size or resort you want, but you can get in somewhere.
