I'd be very curious to learn which parts of the GUI you mean, I think in 15 years of using GIMP, I've never had this problem, though granted, I never used it at a professional level.
The only things that I can think of is some more tools appearing on the same buttons in the interface, or more options in the Tools/Filters menus.
I need to use it, every so often (once a year, but for a week or more), and every couple of years, options move, settings change, everything.
And it always does seem to do things in a weird way.