Perhaps not all the 60,000 of you expected through the gates today will feel that way, but I suspect quite a few of you will.

A lot of the images you had as a child, or as an adult with young kids literally scrambling through the old showbag pavilion, no longer fit.

If you have been there recently, you will have been eased in to the new Ekka. If you are like me and have not been there since before the 2011 floods, there are big changes afoot.

What's new?

First up, the Ekka is halfway through one of the biggest inner-city revitalisation programs in Brisbane's history. It's worth $2.9 billion.

You can refresh your memory about that here, but in short, they (developers Lend Lease) began in 2011 and are almost finished.

The final section to be reshaped is near King and Machinery streets, or where the old government and old dog exhibition pavilions once stood. That is down towards the St Pauls Terrace side.

Here are my 10 changes since 2008.

1. No one drives to the Ekka anymore. It makes no sense. No more parking beside the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Catch a train. It's cheap as chips and there is a loop that runs Roma Street, Central Station, Fortitude Valley, Bowen Hills and the RNA Showgrounds. Thankfully, kids still question why it sounds like the train engine has stopped when the airconditioning compressors stop.

And parents still say: "I'm sure it will start up again soon."

You can catch the heritage steam train on People's Day from 10am to 3.45pm.

2. The world's tallest timber office block is being built, just outside near St Pauls Terrace in one of the two big areas that have changed dramatically.

The lower third towards St Pauls Terrace near the Jubilee Hotel, and the RNA's centre third where the old government pavilion was removed, have changed substantially.

The old pavilions towards St Pauls Terrace are gone, and a mix of restaurants and units towers have taken their place, providing inner-city living for a new workforce generation.

This area has completely changed to become a more upbeat, corporate-feel meeting place.

The trees break up the towers and, overall, it works more effectively 365 days a year.

3. Cattle and poultry are all using the different levels of a new concrete car park for the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for the first time. This is on the right-hand side of Sideshow Alley, which is now more of a corner, still towards the hospital section.

It is where the woodchop events were held and this is first time the car park has been used.

RNA old-timer Graham Hoey said the car park was "80 per cent OK" but the cattle hated the concrete floors.

"Even if they put a foot on that concrete," he said, pointing towards the slab floor with a rubber mat  down the middle, "they just go splat.

"They really need more rubber matting."

Pat McDonald's jersey cow Comerica Cluster, who had just been trimmed by the barber for the "Queensland's Cutest Cow" judging, seemed to agree.

4. The showbags have their own pavilion now down inside Sideshow Alley. You will know this if you have been in the past decade, but RNA veterans will feel the reprieve here.

Inside there are more surprises. There's The Lifestyle Hub inside the Showbag Pavilion, where fitness gear and sports bags to take to the gym are sold.  I'm told it's been here for four years, but that shows how far the "fitbit generation" has spread.

5. The Ekka chairlift has gone.

Sigh. I'm told its been gone for many years, but as I say, I haven't been there for more than a decade.

As a young boy, I had wondered about things falling on the heads of RNA punters for years and years as I hurried back to my job at a Mazda dealership down towards St Pauls Terrace.

Now there's an Uber stand near where you would have clambered up to get on to the chairlift. For some years it was the end of the best 20-odd minutes at the show, when your feet brushed against the concrete at either end when you landed.

Sure, it would be hard to run it past the new Rydges Hotel, but it would give guests an alternative way to leave their hotel rooms.

6. #Ekka. The social media world has swallowed the RNA.

Why not, it's got everything else. On the plaza area in the central third of the Ekka grounds is a new food and entertainment area. It is on the slight hill in behind the old grandstands around the ring.

Standing here, like the word BRISBANE at Southbank, is the tag #Ekka. It's popular and not just with the under-20s.

I met three women having their photo in front of the sign. They were all related to Ces Smallcombe, the former director of the Royal National Association for many years until 1984.

His widow, Daphne Smallcombe, 96, and her daughters Coralie Batchelder and Judy Lemske make the trip to the Ekka every year.

"Mum likes to come every year and she likes to see all the changes," Ms Batchelder said.

7. The woodchop events have shifted.  They are no longer under the trees on the right-hand side as you go under the rail bridge towards Sideshow Alley, and are there now in their own big enclosure. Far better, with better seating and easy to listen to the proceedings. Good job all around.

8. The Police Exhibit has shifted from down near St Pauls Terrace to the new government pavilion.

I know this also happened four years ago, but it feels different now it's inside the double-floor government pavilion with everything else. You can (if you wish) straddle the police bike, get your fingerprints taken and become a junior officer for the day and look through the old photographs. They have their new Indigenous police squad on display.

It was often the last thing you went to as a young one. Unsure about this one. Different feel.

9. The rides have been taken over by a new generation of pirates, orcs, aliens and Jurassic Park dinosaurs. Trust me.  Most of the screams in Sideshow Alley were coming from The Beast, which looks genuinely frightening; there's the Alien Abduction and the Dragon Castle where orcs drew their power from every small child who passed.

Plenty of Johnny Depp-styled pirates at the family-friendly Pirates Adventure, which is only $6 a turn.

10. You can buy boutique beers at the RNA.

I'd never heard of Goose Island Beer, but I willingly downed a pot in the interests of journalistic accuracy with my chicken wings in the Pirate's Life Brewing establishment.

I'm happy to report it was beer, it was cold and it went well with the chicken wings from one of the fast-food vans outside.

An advance on XXXX all around.

What you can buy under $5

On People's Day

Getting there

The Royal Queensland Show is held at the Brisbane Showgrounds, Bowen Hills until August 19. For Ekka tickets and information click here. For public transport details click here.