I should've mentioned that there are a lot of suggestions buried on the Atlanta (http://community.livejournal.com/dragoncon/tag/atlanta) tag for things to do Wednesday through Thursday afternoon. The con totally doesn't start Thursday night officially, but there're always parties and groups gathering to compare notes after checking in.

This thread (http://community.livejournal.com/dragoncon/1694592.html) and that thread (http://community.livejournal.com/dragoncon/1932135.html) should be good starting places. Just don't take a drink before reading!

I hear Stone Mountain is particularly nice from my in-laws, but I've yet to actually visit it myself, so I dunno.