i got it working, just incase anyone else is stuck here as well...
the secret was to set a totally different subkey value. you have to set the PrinterJobControl Subkey using C:\Windows\splwow64.exe and the value as your output path. you ALSO have to set the AdobePDFOutputFolder Subkey in the same directory (Acrobat Distiller \\ 9.0 \\ AdobePDFOutputFolder). the name i used (although i'm not sure it matters) is "2" while the value is the default output folder (C:\temp in my case).
This was one hell of a puzzle. thank you to all who helped me figure this one out
