One goal for the new Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride was to allow "the whole family to be able to experience this," said Thierry Coup, senior vice president of Universal Creative Studios.

"We wanted the level of thrills that Forbidden Journey has but maybe make it more visual than physical in some ways, trying to strike the right balance," Coup said. New projector technology and a nearly 360-degree screen will help immerse riders in the story at one point, he said.

"The time you spend in each scene with the characters is greater than we've been able to achieve in any ride," Coup said. "It's really going to give you the sense of being there with your favorite characters."

The height requirement for the Gringotts ride is expected to be 42 inches, Coup said. That's 6 inches shorter than Forbidden Journey.

The story for the Escape from Gringotts ride is set in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh book in the series by author J.K. Rowling.

The outside of the attraction will be topped by a 60-foot-tall, fire-breathing dragon figure.

Inside, the attraction's queue will include a stretch in the marble lobby of Gringotts. Guests, according to the story, will be there to open an account at the bank. Their journey will go many miles below London toward the institution's vaults, Coup said. Riders will encounter Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort.

"The guests will find themselves transported smack in the middle of the action when Ron, Harry and Hermione break into the bank," Coup said.

"If they deliver the experience that they design, I think you're going to see an incredible increase in attendance at the front gate again," Spiegel said. Islands of Adventure attendance rose more than 30 percent in the first year after Wizarding World opened.

"It's definitely something that we knew that everybody wanted," he said. "The second we started sketching ideas it was definitely going to be Diagon Alley and Gringotts Bank."

"You will run into some serious trouble because [Death Eater] Bellatrix Lestrange finds out there are imposters trying to impersonate her and trouble starts. That's when we are sent deeper into the lower parts of Gringotts under London, and we run into security trolls, dragons, Bellatrix and, eventually, the dark Lord Voldemort," Coup said.