Odd behavior of date field in multi-step form

I am trying to create a module to book services during given business hours. I want the user to enter a date, click a button to generate the available timeslots for that day, then confirm the appointment. In order to have the timeslot generation without relying on jquery/javascript, I needed to implement it as a multi-step form. This is my first attempt at multi-step forms so my knowledge is spotty. I'm having issues carrying over the date values from step to step. It seems like the timezone offset is being applied. I'm also attempting to hide both time fields and the To date field, but with them being hidden, I have to assign those 3 values in my submit function and thats not working well either. I've searched for a solution and theres a lot on multi-step forms, but really very little in conjunction with date module fields. I could achieve what I want without them or using rules, but I'd like to be able to create a calendar view and have the module be mostly self serving. Any light you could shed would be appreciated.