Saw an excellent two part biography of Walt Disney a couple weeks ago. Your observation is spot on. Disney himself rebelled against a father who was, by all accounts, a dour task master who never succeeded at anything he tried. Some "failures" can still enjoy life, but not Disney Senior. Walt was a perfectionist too, hard driving, demanding, and sparing with praise for his workers. But he also was hugely creative, knew how to have fun, and was a doting father.
Saving Mr. Banks is a very good account of how Mary Poppins was made in spite of the author P.L. Travers' objections to Disney and her own deep seeded issues with a failed father. In her case an alcoholic bank manager, fired from his job out in an isolated country town in Australia.
For some reason, the words of the song that Mary Poppins and Mr. Banks sing together have always stuck with me:
They must feel the thrill of totting up a balanced book
A thousand ciphers neatly in a row...
Those words, sung by Mary Poppins, have always struck me a clever and droll joke, when you realize that "cipher" is another word for "zero."