But my general understanding is that, for example, there are 75 one bedroom villas which are scheduled to be available three days from now. Out of those, perhaps 20 have room requests which were made at reservation, with requests including particular room, building, view, floor, smoking preference, etc. While trying to accommodate those I expect that there will often still be "leftover" rooms which would meet another guest's request made later. Some requests are likely filled quickly ("Epcot view") as there are lots who may want that, but not that many rooms which have it. On the other hand, say if you want a particular floor at BCV or prefer farther from the elevator to cut down on noise, then they can usually make some accommodation for you, even just before or even at check-in.
Okay, I'm not explaining this well, but I think that during the assignment process, if there are fewer rooms which meet the criteria than have made the request, the CM will give them in the order of the request, but if there are as many or more units, then even if the request was made later it will still be accommodated. (Just like you can make a request at check-in and sometimes they willl be able to give you what you want.) I am sure it can get a little tricky, as when you have someone making reservations and their requests months in advance, but they have multiple requests, then you have another with one request made a week ahead. I think that has to be a judgment call by the individual CM and there can't be an absolute, set-in-stone, procedure.
Anyway, making a request just in advance of the room assignment does not take priority over those made previously, but does give you a step up from those made days later, at check-in. And I still believe, based on my asking of friends, that most people do NOT make room requests, with the possible exception of nonsmoking, which I think is the easiest to accommodate.
Lastly, my understanding is that
DVC rooms are assigned in the same manner as other resort rooms.
