Elias Scharf, the ‘old soul’ Saskatchewan boy who went viral by handling Disneyland’s closure with remarkable calm

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Elias Scharf is every bit as chill in real life as he appears on TV, as evidenced in the 12-year-old’s impossibly calm response to having a dream vacation cut short.

Elias, who’s from Craven, Sask., was visiting Disneyland with his mom, dad and 24-year-old sister when the theme park announced it was closing for one month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fox 11 Los Angeles caught up with Elias – wearing a blue poncho, an umbrella resting casually against his shoulder – just outside the park gates in Anaheim, Calif., last Thursday to ask for his reaction to news of the closure.

“We come from Canada – took a long trip to get here,” Elias said calmly, taking a long sip from a Starbucks cup, signalling an end to the interview, which went viral.

“This Canadian kid’s response to not being able to go to Disneyland this weekend is the best thing I’ve seen today,” Arash Markazi, sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times, tweeted. “I’d like to think he took a drag of his cigarette a couple minutes later as he talked about missing out on ‘It’s a Small World [one of the theme park’s long-standing attractions].’”

“The way he sips his coffee screams elderly man who has seen one too many bad things in his life and just doesn’t give AF any more,” another Twitter user replied.

“Five-tool future dad,” wrote Tom Ziller. “Restrained disappointment, comfy clothes, mild bemusement with unfortunate circumstances, practical haircut and an all-world coffee sip as he finishes his point.”

The trip was a treat for the Grade 7 student from Ecole Lumsden Elementary School.

Elias, who plays the bagpipes and video games in his spare time, is a big fan of Star Wars and was keen to try the new Guardians of the Galaxy rides. He had saved up the money he earns for cleaning his house to build a lightsaber and a droid at Disneyland.

The family flew in last Monday from Regina and were able to spend four days at the park before cutting their trip short Friday.

Elias, who seems wholly unfazed by the attention, said in an interview that he was “a bit” disappointed to return early, but added “it’s for the best.”

He and his family are self-isolating on their acreage just north of Regina for the next two weeks.

Elias said he “deleted Twitter because it got boring.” But his dad, Forrest, a fruit-crop specialist with the Saskatchewan government, caught him up with the world’s reaction to his interview before their flight home yesterday. The family had “quite the laugh,” at the airport, reading the comments online.

His son “really is an old soul,” said Mr. Scharf, noting that the short clip captured his particular “way of being.”

At that point, Elias interjected dryly: “Is this my interview or yours?”