Yep... you did it.

My first couple were real anti-climatic... just a bit of moving around the room I thought I was in.

1) You might have experienced hypnogogic sounds - but it seems to have happened in your dream rather than on your way there. Hyphogogic sounds happen as you are passing into sleep, so the sounds may just have been a weird part of your dream.

2) That's the hard part. My first couple WILDS were very like false awakenings. The first one, I literally got up out of my body and just floated around the room, experiencing my dream body a bit. Another time I just floated upstairs and puttered around the dining room... didn't DO anything, really. "Getting into the dream" isn't it... you were dreaming. Keep trying the spinning technique. Do it with a definate location or setting in mind, close your eyes and spin hard. When you hear people describe the difficulties of passing into a dream, they are referring to going from intense hypnogogic imagery to the full dream experience. That transition can be challenging sometimes.

3) For me, things that slightly disturb my sleep really really hinder my ability to WILD. I liken WILDing to trying to turn my consciousness inside out... to bring all of my outer awareness inside withouth interrupting it. Even the slightest outside distractions tend to pull me out of the process, resulting in either awakening or losing the "thread" and falling asleep.

Congratulations! Isn't it a rush?