Universal Orlando released a brand new television/internet advertisement for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley today. The clip is called Dreaming and may be watched below:

You may have seen news floating around that there is a Media/VIP preview of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley expansion. It looks like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is getting in on the fun. They will be recording episodes there from June 16th – 19th. Tickets will be released later this week on the show’s ticketing website; and will be announced on the show’s Twitter @FallonTonight. The show will tape on Sound Stage 20 on the Universal Studios back lot, but the musical acts will perform on the Music Plaza Stage.

Guests so far, more will be announced:

• Monday, June 16: Jennifer Lopez, who also will perform, and Keenen Ivory Wayans.
• Tuesday, June 17: Kevin Hart and Jimmy Buffett, who also will perform
• Wednesday, June 18: Tracy Morgan and musical guest Fun.
• Thursday, June 19: Pitbull, who also will perform.

UPDATE: The show is also hosting a Watch, Answer and Win Sweepstakes for a fan to win tickets to a taping of the show as well as the VIP preview.

You could win a Summer Vacation to Universal Orlando® Resort, where you’ll experience the magic and excitement of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™, featuring the all-new Diagon Alley™ and the Hogwarts™ Express!

This vacation of a lifetime includes:

• A special live taping of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at Universal Orlando® Resort
• Attendance at a VIP Preview of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ – Diagon Alley™
• Admission to Universal’s two amazing theme parks
• Accommodations in the heart of the excitement at the new Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort
• And much more!

To enter, tune in to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon each night from May 26 to June 6. Then select the name of the song that The Roots play for the first guest’s entrance. You and a guest could be among the 22 lucky winners on your way to Orlando!

In a new interview with the Huffington Post, Universal’s Senior Vice President Thierry Coup talks about the Escape from Gringotts ride which is the main attraction in the Diagon Alley expansion at Universal Orlando. He gave a little background information for the ride:

“J.K. Rowling actually gave us a lot of creative leeway when it came to Escape from Gringotts. You see, the story that we wanted to tell with this Universal Orlando attraction kind of ran concurrently with the events which occurred during Deathly Hallows, ” Coup explained. “You see, our guests just happen to be at Gringotts Wizarding Bank opening a new account on the exact same day that Harry, Ron and Hermione are trying to break into Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault to retrieve a horcrux.”

Followed by information on Voldemort and Bellatrix’s appearance in the ride:

“Which I know is a departure from The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 movie. J.K. Rowling certainly didn’t mention Bellatrix and Voldemort being on scene this early as part of the Deathly Hallows book. But given that this action is happening away from where Harry, Ron & Hermione are … Well, J.K. actually gave us permission to include these scenes as part of our attraction because they could have possibly been going on while Harry, Ron and Hermione were in the Lestrange vault retrieving that horcux,” Thierry said.

He also discussed what fans can expect to see during the ride and 35 minute queue time, assuming that the ride is full to capacity, which will most likely be the case when the park opens later this year.

“Don’t get me wrong. Harry Potter fans really seem to love Forbidden Journey. But the one complaint which we kept getting from our guests about that Wizarding World attraction was that they weren’t getting enough time with their favorite characters. That — because Forbidden Journey is really kind of a Harry Potter highlight reel — we kept moving quickly from character to character, from place to place,” Coup continued. “Which is why — with Escape from Gringotts — we decided to confine this attraction to one specific place. Give our Guests lots of face time with some of the most famous characters from the Harry Potter world. Not to mention placing them right in the middle of one of the more exciting moments from both the books and the film series.”

That means facing down the 60-foot-long, fire-breathing Ukrainian Ironbelly dragon that bars the way to the Lestrange family vault. Which Hermione then sets free in a last-ditch effort to escape from all the goblins and Death Eaters who are hurling curses at them (and Universal Orlando theme park guests) in the caverns far below those polished marble floors high above in the lobby in Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

And speaking of Gringotts’ lobby … During the 35 minutes that Universal Orlando visitors will spend wandering through the highly themed queue of this new state-of-the-art thrill ride, they’ll eventually come face-to-face with a set of animatronic goblins.

He finished by telling us that this ride combines everything they haev learned from other rides they’ve created for the park and it will be the first ride of it’s kind.

“Every lesson that we’ve ever learned from building other attractions here at the Universal Orlando Resort — our award-winning The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Transformers: The Ride – 3D, even Forbidden Journey — has been applied to Escape from Gringotts. There’s never ever been a theme park attraction like this before. One that uses so much cutting-edge technology in the service of telling this one really great story,” Thierry concluded. “Which is why I can’t wait ’til late this summer when Universal Orlando guests get the chance to enter Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Which is when they’ll get the chance to join Harry, Ron and Hermione on the ultimate Harry Potter adventure.”

The final clue for The Today Show’s Diagon Alley Sweepstakes has been shared by Al Roker. To enter, visit this sweepstakes website, and answer the question Al gives  (you don’t have to get the answer right to be eligible to win.)  25 winners (with 3 guests each) will win trips to the Grand Opening of Diagon Alley in Orlando, which is expected to be in June.

The fifth clue for The Today Show’s Diagon Alley Sweepstakes has been revealed. To enter, visit this sweepstakes website, and answer the question Al gives  (you don’t have to get the answer right to be eligible to win.)  25 winners (with 3 guests each) will win trips to the Grand Opening of Diagon Alley, which is expected to be in June.

USA Today has an exclusive video preview of the Diagon Alley expansion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando.  They also shared a bunch of new photos that can be seen in the gallery.

They detail the Escape from Gringotts ride:

inside Gringotts bank, after guests pass through the grand lobby, there’s a hallway with magical portraits and armor fit for goblins and trolls.

Turn the corner, and you realize you are in the office of Bill Weasley, who greets you in a similar way that Dumbledore does in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure. Then, you board souped-up elevators that make you feel as if you are going deep into the cavernous vaults.

Once you exit, there are massive stalactites above and 12-person ride vehicles, each with its own steam-pumping chimney. That is impressive in itself, but what about the ride?

“Is it part roller coaster, part 3-D-motion-based ride?” I ask.

Not exactly.

“It would be a real understatement to call it a roller coaster, because it does so much more,” Coup says. “It’s way beyond that.”

Here’s how it works: Riders put on 3-D glasses and race through a labyrinth of underground vaults, where they encounter the villainous Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldermort, Harry’s archrival.

At one point, “a troll grabs the vehicle and starts shaking it,” Coup says. At another point, hot lava surrounds guests just as the villains reappear in a full, 360-degree scene. It’s all thanks to 4K digital high-definition animation, state-of-the-art 3-D Infitec projection systems and live special effects.

It’s clearly very different from Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a wildly popular ride at Hogsmeade. The distinguishing factor: Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts “is thrilling and dynamic, but not as dynamic as Forbidden Journey because we wanted everyone to be able to ride it.”

We even get some new tidbits about the Hogwarts Express ride that connects the two worlds (Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade):

In a final stroke of brilliance, there’s the Hogwarts Express, which transports parkgoers from Hogsmeade Station to London’s King’s Cross Station and back. As you trundle along, you are treated to a four-minute Harry Potter movie made for this ride. Each carriage is “basically your own little audio theater,” Gilmore says. “The characters are all around you in this experience.”

[…]

Indeed. As I sat in a train carriage on the Hogwarts Express, with the sound of the engine rumbling and smoke bellowing outside, I started to feel less like a Muggle and more like a wizard.