Reservations are definitely made on a first to call, first to get basis. As an example, for the night of 12/28/2003, the first day that anyone could have gotten a reservation for that night was on January 29. No way to get a ressie for that night earlier.
Standard views make up less than 20% of the rooms (I've heard estimtes as low as 15%). Studio weeknights in the standard views book up very quickly. Since the week between Christmas and New Year's Day is probably the busiest of the year, I'm not surprised that the standard view studios booked quickly. It's also very possible that some members booked more than one studio when they got through. I think I read that some were planning to do that.
Sorry you didn't get what you wanted. Has to be frustrating to lose out at only 3 minutes after opening. Hope you asked to be put on the waitlist. We've already had one poster report that the waitlist came through for him. Believe he also was wanting a standard view for that same week, but not sure what size.
Good luck!