Get values from Future in Dart/Flutter

Question

This is what I have so far. The getPlaces is an http get request that returns a dict. I just need the dict info in a string so I can parse it. I know that I have to use the .then() method but it isn't working when I try to set an external variable equal to the value of the .then method

List<Widget> makeItems(
        String query,
      ) {
        Future<List> placesList = getPlaces(query);
        var thingString = placesList.then((value) => print(value)).toString();
        print('thingstring: ' + thingString);
        var widgetList = [Text('yas')];
        // for (int i = 1; i < placesList.toString().length; i++) {
        //   widgetList.add(Text(placesList[i]));
        // }
        return widgetList;
      }

Future<List> getPlaces(String query) async {
    Dio _dio = Dio();
    var queryParameters = {'search_query': query};
    var data = await _dio.get('http://127.0.0.1:5000/getPlaces/',
        queryParameters: queryParameters);

    String fullString = data.data.toString();

    print('fullstring: ' + fullString);
    var listylist = [];

    listylist = fullString.split(', (');

    return listylist;
  }