I have been to a few IKEAs in a couple of other states I have lived in and they are pretty much it's the same layout. There's a path that you follow that takes you to all the departments. But you can save time if you plan ahead what you want. Although it's easy to get distracted and end up buying more than you intended.
Since we live in Raleigh and this is the only IKEA in the state, so we made a weekend out of it and visited some of our friends in the Charlotte area. I definitely took advantage of the small food court near the registers and got some water and frozen yogurt.
Looking forward to when the new IKEA opens in Cary. Also make sure to go during the weekdays. Weekends can be crazy unless maybe you go right when it opens.