Dual Credit and AP

My apologies if this is a silly question or should be obvious.

When I graduate high school, I will have taken 25 dual credit classes and will receive an Associate Degree in Engineering. I know AP and Honors classes are what colleges are looking for, but dual credit classes have the same weight of an AP course. However, is dual credit as impressive or of equal comparison to AP? All my elective, math, and science classes are college level engineering and calculus; will this not be good enough? I thought AP also followed a college level rigor and curriculum.

I am confused if dual credit just doesn't show as nicely on my high school transcript, because it is technically going on my college transcript as well. Although I thought some colleges allowed AP classes to count for college credit, too.

I am just curious what others think or know, as I am feeling discouraged for not being able to take AP. Just wanting honest opinions so I can plan out if I need to balance out my application with more activities or higher test scores.

Note: My school has little Honors classes and, from my understanding, no AP classes, so it is not like I have many options.