My first exposure to the Wii U was a demo of Rayman Legends.  The game seemed to be pretty good, but I then found out the second screen really didn't do much for me.  What seemed to be something of interest before trying went into hesitancy.  

Now, I went to an event, and tried the Wii U again.  This time, I tried NintendoLand.  The second screen didn't resonate with me at all.  I found the Donkey Kong game had me fixated on the second screen all the time, with myself forgetting to look up.  Other times I try but lose my place.  So, I don't get it.

My not getting this here, and would like to maybe get what I am missing, is that, unlike the DS, I have to move my entire head to look elsewhere, as opposed to the DS where I merely move my eyes, so it is less disruptive.  

I can see the WiiU second screen serving as a way to be able to kick a kid off the main screen, as a touch pad to do stuff turn-based and perhaps put it on the floor when trying to do golf.  Beyond this, I just don't get it.  

Can someone here explain what I am missing and why this is supposed to be appealing?  I am not getting it.

It's not for everyone. Nintendo has so far been a hit or mess with the Wii U. More miss than hit.

I thought the second screen was just to make things easier, like taking menu's out of the game and stuff like that.

Nothing dude. You just gotta quit. This is your window of opportunity. Take it & jump out.

It will appeal to some and others not so much. You are just in the latter. Maybe it just doesn't resonate with you.

your missing 8GB of GDDR5 memory and the power of the cloud.

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=168897&page=1#

So far it seems the two screen setup isn't that useful for new and innovative gameplay.

Using as a map or things works though.

LMAO that cracks me up especially coming from both sides.

I played the ZombiU demo for about 15 minutes, after hours of downloading updates, before I just turned the system off, put it back in it's box, and havn't even taken it out since February. I know I'll get blasted for this, nut it's just not a good console, by any means.

games? Nintendo has not released anything compelling that uses the gamepad well (ZombiU does it well actually). The gamepad, so far, has been used as an extension to traditional experiences. I will be waiting until zelda or metroid to judge whether Nintendo can convince.

I actually love, off screen play with the gamepad - in that regard the wii u has been succesful.