Like Dave R I made my first visit here in 1968, and have been to all the shows since then. I guess the reason why you go will effect your view of the show. Since my hobby is aviation photography, the chance to see the odd type of either airliner or military machine makes me want to continue going. Sadly, they are often parked jam packed making pictures almost impossible. Add the thousands who attend on the public days and it's a 'forget it' situation. Having managed to get trade tickets for the last few years encourages me to keep visiting.
However, I do find that there is an 'us and you' attitude on the trade days. They will allow the odd oike (like me) in, but unless you are going to buy the latest Gulfstream forget it... I'm firmly convinced that the public days are there to pay for the boys bun-fight the rest of the week. Most business seems to be done Monday to Friday, so after then a lot of the more interesting aircraft will head home.
I had a look at the planned flying for the trade day I visited. There was very little that I thought worth staying for, so I left around 1300, after a turn around the static park. I was sad to see that the two Spanish Harriers had been stashed away, out of sight for some reason. Probably nobody wanted to overshadow the F35 flypast on the programme.
Compared to 1968, the show is very different, but then so is aviation. Enjoy it whilst you can as sooner or later Elfan is going to stop just about every fun activity there once was!