(I can do a full Acrobat X install and export the Adobe PDF printer. In Windows XP use the Printer Migration Wizard. In Windows 7, use the Print Management snap-in in MMC (the Microsoft Management Console.)
Install printer ports using the INF files found in %Acrobat_Install_Location%\AcrobatX\Acrobat\Xtras\AdobePDF
This approach has met with minimal success, in that the imported Adobe PDF printer does seem to interact with the packaged Distiller on some level. nevertheless, I can only get Excel files to convert in the "Combine Files" dialog in Acrobat X. TXT and PDF are also converted, but PPTX and DOCX will not convert. I have tried a variety of Package.ini settings and have encountered a variety of errors.)
Your solution works, with one caveat. You need to enable applinks in the program.ini file before building the Thinapp. Since I stream my Thinapps the path is OptionalAppLinks=\\servername\sharename\Officefolder\*.dat. this will cover all Office products like Word and Excel. Use the OptionalAppLinks BuildOption, this way if the path is wrong, at least Acrobat will still work.